A Twins Understanding
by Nemesis13
Summary: Harry Potter despised being a celebrity and the drama it entailed, the only person he wanted to share this burden with was his twin sister Lillith who unfortunately is a vapid fool. He wishes on a falling star for his sister to be the equal he needs at the same time an affable Dark Lady from another dimension falls through the veil, be careful what you wish for. Sort of twincesty
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

**So to new readers, this entire thing was a whim that kinda just kept writing itself, so I did something I've never tried before and let the readers decide who the main pairing was, and much to my (complete and utter lack of) surprise a twincest pairing between HarryxLillith with Hermione thrown in was the number one request. **

**Now me personally? Not something I normally get into, so it's actually going to be an interesting journey for myself since I'm leaving a comfort zone, plus it's not _technically_ incest at least from Lilly's point of view, she grew up in another universe never knowing Harry so it's less squicky for her. Harry though? Heh, that kids gonna need mind healers by the end of this, anyway enjoy and REVIEW!**

**EDIT 4/16/2015-_Since someone took it upon themselves to whine about the POV of this story I'll clarify something real quick, this will initially mostly follow Lillith's PoV as she figures out where the hell she is and weaves her web of lies to stay undiscovered. Once they hit Hogwarts it'll be shifting to mostly Harry's PoV for awhile and as the tournament starts in earnest it'll be shared, I had no idea someone was going to cry about THAT of all things but there you go. _**

* * *

Harry Potter rubbed his scarred forehead in weary irritation, it was a nervous tick that he'd picked up over the years and it was nearly always precipitated by his twin sister Lillith. He loved his sister, he really did, but she was just his antithesis in so many ways, he was smart, she cut with the dull edge of the knife, he was cunning, she was a simpleton, he was brave, she was craven, he was chaste and if rumours were to be trusted she hadn't been since she was thirteen. Their most recent argument had left him with a palm print on his face and the harpies bitching ringing in his ears, sighing he lifted his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose when a gentle voice startled him,

"She's at it again isn't she?" Turning around he smiled down at his little sister, Iris was still a bit short for her age but the twelve year old redhead held their mothers calculating gaze in her hazel eyes, sighing he nodded in reply.

"Apparently her boyfriend dumped her for someone who would...be more willing to meet his physical needs..." Iris snorted while rolling her eyes,

"What she not enough of a skag for Dean? I figured the village broom stick would be plenty for him," shooting her a withering glance Harry seethed out through clenched teeth,

"Please do not speak of our sister like that little flower, please..." Iris stared at him appraisingly a moment before shaking her head,

"You have so much faith in someone who doesn't deserve it big brother, mum wants to talk to you, apparently about your birthday preparations," he nodded to the disturbingly intelligent preteen as he made his way though Potter manor. He honestly detested the enormous ancestral home of his family, since the day his grandmother Dorea had thrown her life down to save he and his twin from the psychopath Dark Lord Voldemort the building just felt...haunted. As he approached his mothers lab the Unspeakable could be heard arguing with Aunt Bellatrix,

"No Bella for the love of Morgana you can't mix those two runes and you know it," the musical voice of his aunt replied in a diffident tone,

"And why not, the end result will be more than a bit entertaining," Lily Potter sighed loudly before responding,

"Because it will open a Hellgate to the Other World? You do remember what happened last time that happened yes?" There was a pause then a bit of excited clapping,

"That's when Remus and I had to fight our way through a legion of ancient zombified centenarians and French foreign legionaries right? Such a lark!" There was another pause followed by what could only be a forehead meeting a desk,

"Yes Bella...that's what happened," Harry decided to save his mum from his Aunt's ministrations by knocking on the door quickly before pushing it open, the redhead looked up to her son and smiled brightly. "Hello honey, I see Iris found you, I was wondering what you and your sister would like for your birthday?" Harry sighed as he leaned against the door frame, the Boy-Who-Lived (Merlin he despised the moniker that cost his grandparents their lives) nervously rubbed his scare again before replying.

"You know Lillith mum shes...well I'm sure she'll be ok with anything you lot plan out..." snorting internally he barely restrained the followup "So long as it's cock shaped,' grimacing at the thought he met his aunts lilac gaze as she grinned widely.

"Don't worry my dear boy, everything changes soon, it _is_ your fifth year of schooling coming up after all." Snickering to herself Bella turned back to her lab bench as Harry shook his head and bade the pair farwell, moving to his own rooms he paused at Lillith's door hearing the bathwater running. Deciding to just wait to speak to her until the morning Harry shucked off his robes and threw on his pajamas, tossing his glasses on the nightstand he crawled into bed staring at the ceiling. As he glanced out the window he saw a falling star shoot across the sky, smiling sadly he closed his eyes to think a moment.

"For my birthday I wish upon the falling stars that my sister were my equal, I wish I had someone who could understand what I have to go through, and not hold my hand through it, but stand at my side..." with that he slipped into the realm of Morpheus, having no idea what he had just done.

* * *

Lillith Dorea Potter-Black, the Lady of Slytherin, the Girl-Who-Lived, the Dark Lady Maeve was grinning viciously as the ministry hit squad to her right exploded in a wave of viscera and fire. Neville smirked towards her as he admired his handiwork, Lord Gryffindor always had a penchant for blowing shit up in a rather dramatic fashion; not to be outdone she threw an over charged Reductor curse scattering more hit wizards and their limbs across the lobbies floor.

The unfortunate truth of the matter was her insurrection had failed all thanks to that bastard Dumbledore, she'd played her cards just right but the bloody Dark Lord had no compunctions about mind raping her apprentices still in Hogwarts thus leading her plans to ruin. This was the only chance she or any of her UnSeelie court had for victory after three months of purges, either take the Hall of Time to set off a specific runic explosion over the central hourglass to send them back a decade or die trying.

Lillith's eyes glowed with rage as she saw young Colin cut down with a killing curse courtesy of a ministry flunky, that mouldering goat fucker had authorized unforgivables it seems, turning to Hermione she motioned sharply,

"Plan C6, meet at the lifts," nodding her second in command tapped her wristwatch three times when the entire lobby of the Ministry exploded in hellfire, the precast Fiendfyre ripping through the enemy reinforcements as her troops rushed to the safety of the lower levels. The group filed into the open lift and slammed the doors shut, as the dozen survivors breathed heavily leaning against each other the only thing to break the silence was the awful overhead music. Their respite was short lived for not a second following the lifts stop they were sprayed with spell fire, Draco and Luna fell first, the latter screaming in agony as her flesh was burned off by soul fire.

Lilly shed a tear as she slit Draco's throat, not wanting her long time friend to suffer from the withering curse that had hit his heart, Hermione had cast a Czar Bombarda down the hall the most powerful of all explosion curses echoing through the building sending dust scattering from the rafters. Their group ran through the smoke and flames when the old goat appeared as if himself a wraith, he cast a gray colored spell directly at Lillith when Neville knocked her aside, her god brother screamed in defiance as the spell enveloped him. Red fire ignited from the dying boys eyes and the last thing the startled Dark Lord Dumbledore saw was the last scion of Longbottom shoving the Sword of Gryffindor through his pompous black heart.

Sobbing Lilly was pulled through the opening portal by her last two subordinates, Ginny was bleeding from the stump of her lost left arm as she propped herself against the wall, the last living Weasley grinned to her lady as her lifes blood soaked the floor.

"Run, do what you can, and don't you dare look back," she than smacked the panel next to the door slamming the portal shut, making to go back for the redhead Hermione hooked her arm around her waist and dragged her on.

"None of that you, we're all that's left, we can't let their deaths be in vain, move it!" Caving in to her friend and confidant out of shock more than anything they found themselves in a room that reminded both young women of a roman coliseum. In the center of the staggered stone steps was an ancient arch draped with a fluttering cloth, there was no other exit to be seen outside of the door they'd entered. Both exhausted witches were thrown backwards as the door exploded, more ministry flunkies filed in surrounding the pair of dissidents, dawning realization hit the pair instantly.

"We've lost," Lillith whispered in shamed horror, Hermione for her part helped her friend to her feet as they stared down their would be killers, "I'm so sorry 'Mione..." the brunette glanced to her a moment before smiling wanly.

"In this world and the next I'll always be at your side," looking at the Lady Ravenclaw in confusion Lilly's eyes widened as she glanced to the veiled arch behind them before replying,

"Shall we see how far down the rabbit hole goes?" Smirking as she ignored the demands of the surrounding Auror's and Hit wizards Hermione quipped,

"Curiousor and Curiousor dear Alice," with that both witches grinned as they let themselves fall through the gate to no where.

* * *

Lillith awoke sputtering, sitting up quickly she sent a cascade of tepid water flying as she shuddered and flailed about in the unfamiliar tub. Coughing up gouts of water she gasped for breath as her nostrils burned, she threw her arms to the side of the tub and began breathing heavily, taking in her surroundings she felt her brow arc incredulously as she took in the opulent bathing room.

"O...k..." not exactly the most intelligent response but she really didn't know how else to react at the moment, shifting she stood from the pool of water and grabbed a towel, drying herself off she wrapped a soft robe around her shivering form and stumbled through the open door. She paused as she took in the bedroom before her, it was so...girly...so soft...so...weak, feeling the disgust roil in her chest she stumbled to the full length mirror and stared at herself. Nothing changed outside of having no scar and being a few years younger, no real complaints there, she was softer though lacking the hardened muscle she'd earned through years of sports and warfare.

Confused beyond words she sat on the far too soft bed and after a time noticed a water stained letter sitting on the bed stand, picking it up she read the first few lines and felt a headache coming on; it was a suicide note, brows once again raising Lillith couldn't help sputtering out,

"Wh-wha-what the literal fuck!? Drowning yourself over a boy leaving you?! What?!" Instead of freaking out and hexxing everything in the disgustingly pink room Lillith centered herself and took several deep breaths, after a few minutes she let out a shuddering gasp. "Ok...you've watched enough Star Trek to have an idea of whats going on here, apparently your mirror universe self was a bloody moron and now you've taken up residence in her head..." Pausing at that she rushed to the rooms desk and found every teenage girls constant, flipping the diary open to the most recent entry she couldn't help feeling even more gobsmacked.

"July 29 1995...that's...holy shit that's seven years ago..." Ok so not exactly the plan her group had come up with but well...it was something she supposed, mulling this over she looked around the room trying to acclimate herself. Stupid amounts of useless stuffed animals, check. Too much lace and no taste in decor, check. Red and gold color scheme rather than a proper green and silver, che-..."Bloody fucking hell, the stupid chits a Gryffindor."

With that the Dark Lady Lillith Potter began screaming into her pillow, after her moment of angst she spent the better part of the late evening and early morning reading her dead counterparts diary, if she were to be perfectly honest with herself she was half tempted to break into the ministry again and skip through the veil a second time.

"I mean really, how much can one girl whinge? She had her _parents_, she has loving _siblings,_ what happened did she get dropped on her head too many times as a baby? Ugh..." finishing the book around four in the morning she threw a wandless incendio at it removing the offensive tome from her presence. Standing up she began pacing frantically, "No resources, no reputation, useless friends...I mean really, Lavender Brown? _Lavender Brown?!_ Ugh...OK ok ok we can work with this I circumvented two dark lords for years and only failed due to a slip of the tongue, we can work with this."

Step One: Find out how badly this moron screwed up her life. Step Two: Find out what her family truly thinks of her and exploit it. Step Three: See if Hermione made it through with her. That one was iffy, Lillith assumed she'd taken over this body because it was vacant, the idea that Hermione in any universe would be suicidal was just...asinine. Mulling that over she eventually tossed her hands in the air, really what could she do at this point, she was just turning fifteen, second born behind Harry (apparently her twin, may wonders never cease) and for all intents and purposes a floozy.

Falling back on the bed she closed her eyes and let sleep take her, there was literally no reason to stay awake at this point, tomorrow she'd be running the gauntlet known as family, "Well...I'll just have to be Slytherin about it..." sighing she let her exhaustion take her as her world faded to black. As it turned out she slept through most of the next day, either from magical or psychological exhaustion, or possibly both she remained dead to the world, all things considered this worked in her favor. She'd supposedly just been dumped by Dean (was it Dean Thomas? She honestly had no idea Gryffindor's were kind of forgettable unless they were family or Weasley's) so sulking like an adolescent in her tacky as all get out bedroom seemed par for the course. She stared at the ceiling most of the day ignoring her family trying to come to terms with what she had to do,

"Well, for certain I'm not playing the part of my former renter, I am many _many_ things but an easy lay I am not, so gotta dissuade everyone from that point of view right quick...bit of a shock sure but I'm not playing quaffles and bats just to keep up a repugnant image...hmmm..." She considered her options and a sort of honesty may work, fewer questions asked and it could seem all noble and...Gryffindor'ish depending how she played it, and if she were to be honest playing her family would be infinitely easier then her classmates. Iris and her parents saw her three months out of the year and Harry had largely left her to her own devices so...hmm...well that could work.

Smirking she set an early alarm and sing songed, "May the games begin."

Harry shifted about as his body felt overly warm, cracking his eyes open he realized that the morning sunlight had been shining on his face thus awakening him, grunting he sat up and rubbed his eyes letting his hands fall down his cheeks in irritation. Feeling the beginnings of stubble he decided to forgo shaving for the day, the obnoxious peach fuzz had given way to bristly dark hairs over the summer and he'd found girls rather liked the rugged look. Slipping his glasses on he took a shower and dressed in some casual robes before exiting his room, whistling lightly to himself he made his way down to the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks at what he saw.

Iris was at the kitchen table head cocked to her side brows raised in confusion as she watched Lillith twirl about the kitchen in the midst of making a rather elaborate breakfast, his twin spun and met his eyes causing her to stop dead in her tracks. Emerald stared down emerald and of all the gods be damned things she blushed a bit and turned back to the stove,

"Good morning Harry, did you sleep well?" Gawking at her incredulously he pointed to his twins back as he turned to Iris in confusion, the redhead just shook her head slowly obviously at as much of a lose as he was. Sighing he shook his head as he took his place at the table, the three were left in an awkward silence until Mum and Dad entered the room, the pair paused both looking shocked at the sight of their pampered princess of a daughter cooking. Lily stepped forward obviously worried the girl was going to burn the house down but she stopped mid motion realizing that nothing was amiss, cocking her head like Iris she eventually spoke up.

"Good morning honey, you didn't have to make breakfast it is your birthday after all," turning around she met her mothers eyes and Lily let out a slight gasp seeing the true affection and determined hardness in the previously vapid doe eyes.

"It's perfectly all right mum, you've all put up with me acting a prat since I went to school but...well, luckily for all of us that's no longer an issue, please take a seat it's almost done." Sitting next to James the couple exchanged glances then did so with their other two children, they both looked confused as well. Eventually Lillith served them all and gave herself an equal helping, another change normally she only had a slice of toast and a cup of fruit to 'watch her weight,' digging into her meal with gusto her family soon followed her actions hunger overriding confusion.

Eventually James couldn't contain himself anymore, he was Chief Auror after all and the very idea that his beloved but not so bright daughter was suddenly acting...civil just set off too many alarms in his head. Coughing lightly he asked,

"So, Lillith, is there something you want to tell us all?" Pausing she glanced up in fear at the pairs of emerald and hazel eyes, looking back and forth she blushed a bit before downing the rest of her black coffee. Coughing a bit she mumbled a bit straining her dads ears, "What was that honey?" Clearing her throat again she sighed and leaned back before responding,

"Promise not to get mad?" Panicking he gasped out,

"You're not pregnant are you?!" Harry sprayed pumpkin juice from his nose as Iris and Lily winced, Lillith blanched looking aghast,

"Morgana no I'm still a virgin for crying out loud," that...that brought pause and incredulous looks from her family, Lillith herself decided to gamble, this could either blow up in her face or seal the deal so she decided to go in all or nothing. Sighing she pulled out her wand (at least it was willow like her old one) and incanted, "I Lillith Dorea Potter do so swear upon my magic and my life that I have not had any form of sexual relations with anyone in this _universe_, so it is said so mote it shall be." Her family stared at her in absolute horror as Iris whimpered out,

"Oh Goddess Lillith what have you done?" Smirking at her little sister (who she incidentally thought was adorable) Lillith pointed her wand down the hall and simply stated,

"Expecto Patronum," her family reeled back as a massive thestral flew from her wand rather than Prongs, the majestic harbinger of death cantered down the hall before fading away, not being able to help herself she spoke up again. "Huh...well...hadn't expected it to change since third year...gonna have to talk to Hermione about that..." At this her family all rubber necked staring back at her in awe, shrinking into her chair she resisted the urge to let out a weak 'Meep.' Her dad was the first to recover looking very pleased with himself,

"I'm...I'm sorry for judging you honey...I promise to not get angry...please tell me what is on your mind?" Deciding to let a bit of her own anger bleed into her voice she snarled,

"Well if you're all finished believing rumors I suppose I can share, that is if you're all willing to listen to _me_ rather than others." She didn't need to but she threw in a Snape sneer which made the quartet sit back in shock, good, keep them on edge, Iris spoke up next obviously confused.

"I'm...sorry Lillith, if you could please explain what's going on, what's with the sudden changes?" Sighing she stood up and began pacing, this was it, if she could sell this she was set,

"So Harry, tell me how many times has Volemort tried to kill you in total, counting when we were babies?" Iris squeaked and her parents winced while Harry's eyes narrowed,

"Three times so far, last year was a change of pace in how boring school can be when you don't have a megalomaniac after you." Lillith cataloged that away for later, apparently the Triwizard Tournament hadn't happened yet or wasn't going to take place at all, interesting. Nodding she continued,

"Right, ok here's what it came down to there was no way I could compare to the 'Boy-Who-Lived' no matter how much he hates the title, I'd always just be his twin, so I used that. I played being a mediocre social butterfly staying in the shadows, I just faded into the background and drew no attention to myself. If I was invisible I could have Harry's back and no one, not even my family would know I was doing so, after all the grades we earn at Hogwarts mean nothing, they're simply a progress report to parents."

Turning to her family, heh...family...Lillith met each of their eyes then sighed again, "But now it's our fifth year...can any of you tell me what is special about fifth year?" Harry spoke up immediately,

"O.W.L's of course," nodding quickly she began pacing again,

"And what is the difference between Hogwart's term exams and O.W.L's?" Lily gasped and Iris soon followed behind her, the small redhead cracked a wide grin before laughing out,

"O.W.L's are a matter of public record and are required for you to find a decent job, so if you don't throw them everyone will know how good you really are." James and Lily stared at their eldest daughter in dawning respect as Harry openly gaped at her,

"Right, well that's the simple answer, what changed is the mask I wore to stay in the shadows will no longer work if I want to do something other than be a homemaker, and since the very idea of that makes me want to scream well..." she shrugged sheepishly then retook her seat. The ravenette shifted uneasily as her family reevaluated the girl they thought they knew, eventually James spoke,

"You pranked us all...your family, friends, the entire school, you pulled a four year long prank on every person you know..." the pride in his voice was as unmistakable as the tears at the corners of his eyes, coughing politely Lillith scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Yeeeeah, kinda," the rest of the Potter's stared at her for roughly thirty seconds before they broke out laughing, _'Ah, I still got it_' the Dark Lady thought in amusement, now how to make the school think she wasn't a whore..hmm...figure that out after breakfast. Eventually as the laughter died down James wiped the tears from his eyes and still grinning stated,

"Well you're going to need a proper Marauder name aren't you?" Lillith calculated the benefits and gains of responding to this in kind, it _could_ be useful to keep secret but something told her that her family wouldn't rat her out, throwing caution to the wind she gave her dad a half smirk that screamed 'Sirius'.

"Quill, my Marauder name is Quill," the four stared at her in confusion as she turned into her animagus form, as they gasped at the raven now hopping on the table she grabbed the slice of bacon from Iris' hand in her beak and hopped back to her chair. Shifting back to her human form with the bacon still hanging from her mouth she jauntily raised her brows up down causing the boys to break down into further laughter, Iris to giggle, and Lily to falsely scold her daughter,

"No walking on the table young lady," removing the piece of bacon from her mouth she actually looked a bit sheepish as she mumbled,

"Yes mum," earning more laughter, all things considered Lillith wrote the day off as a huge success, after clearing the table she began wandering the back gardens and eventually leaned against a tree losing herself in thought. This was how she found herself uncomfortably close to her brother as he startled her with his hand bracing against the tree leaning over her, for some reason she felt anxious as he stared into the mirrored gaze of his twin before the firm line of his lips broke into a grin and he kissed her forehead.

"I wish you'd been honest with me sister, I've thought you hated me these past four years," sighing in relief Lillith threw him a wane smile,

"If my own twin questioned me than his enemies would-" he cut her off shaking his head sending his shoulder length hair waving,

"Than his enemies would think he was truly alone, you should have been a Slytherin," he quipped as he stood strait turning his back to her, not sure why she quickly threw out,

"I was supposed to be, you know, the hat wanted me to be Slytherin but I couldn't watch your back from the snake pit, so I made it put me with you." He paused at that, turning his head a single brow arced as he gave her a heart stopping lopsided grin,

"Really? Same for me, I just didn't want to be in the same house as that ponce Malfoy," with that he shoved his hands into his pockets walking back to the manor, she followed her brothers progress as a Cheshire cat grin spread across her face,

"You're far more interesting than one would think at first glance brother of mine, Curiousor and Curiousor..." pausing at the thought of Malfoy Lillith got an idea, according to the diary he was no friend of hers in this universe and destroying his reputation could very well help her lose her bad reputation; smirking she made her way to her mothers labs, time to make some polyjuice potion.

* * *

**VERY IMPORTANT: Since a reviewer brought it up later chapters may seem a little heavy on 'slut shaming' but trust me on this one, Lillith is far from a prude she's just very _very_ irked at how Gryffindor'ish her bodies previous tenant was about her dalliances. As far as the Dark Lady is concerned this universes Lillith could have slept with half the school and it wouldn't have mattered in so long as she didn't get caught, since pretty much everything is out in the open she now has to scramble about and perform damage control.**

**Public image and a solid reputation are incredibly important to a Slytherin and now she has to work with a handicap to undo years of damage on top of trying acclimate herself to a whole new world. Anyway, hope you enjoy the ride, please review.**


	2. New Faces and Old Friends

**This took altogether very little time to write out, although I've been toying with all these ideas for months so it's not really that surprising, anyway enjoy and REVIEW!**

* * *

Harry sat back in his beach chair watching his sisters play in the surf with a casual eye, ever since Lillith's revelation their family had become closer then they had ever been before; it was as if a complex machine had a malfunctioning part that no one noticed until the point it began working again. The changes were dramatic and if he was to be honest with himself he loved them, he'd taken to ignoring his fool twin over the years and she'd done the same to him and so he had felt no shame of it thinking she was completely hopeless.

Sure Lillith had always been beautiful, and it had seemed she'd use that beauty for her personal gain all her life rather than make something of herself, just another near pure-blood princess to hang off some overweight lords arm. Now, well, he met the bikini clad ravenettes eyes as she was splashing Iris and she gave him a wink before getting tackled into the surf, chuckling to himself he shook his head as Uncle Sirius sat next to him. Harry glanced over and winced before looking back out to sea,

"Really Padfoot, was the bright pink banana hammock necessary?" His godfather chuckled as he sipped from his fruity and likely incredibly alcoholic drink,

"You know it, the ladies love the view," Uncle Remus sat at Harry's other side as he quirked an incredulous brow,

Seriously Sirius? I thought you'd be more inclined to hide your inadequacies rather than put them on display," His indignant 'OY!' was lost in the laughter of mum and dad who were sitting in the shade of a parasol behind them.

"He's got you there Padfoot," James snarked as he watched Lillith try to toss Iris into a wave only for the redhead to grab her bathing suits straps dragging her down with her. James smiled happily as Lily lay her head in his lap,

"This is nice...I just wish...I just wish she hadn't felt it necessary to play a part for so many years," the Lady Potter said in a sad tone, Remus glanced over his shoulder at the pair before turning his attention back to his 'nieces.'

"I'm not entirely sure she isn't still, don't get me wrong I like this version of her much more, she's shown me some of what she _actually_ knows in the past week and she's damn near auror level at some things. Mostly explosion and fires spells...I'm going to blame Bellatrix for that one..." Sirius snorted as he finished his drink and began picking the booze soaked pieces of fruit from the glass,

"Yes yes blame your wife for teaching teenage girls how to blow shit up, still..." He turned to see Lilliths flailing hands pop up from the surf as a cackling Iris rode on her shoulders, "Still...it was such an abrupt change and well...does it make me a bad godfather that I don't miss the old her in the slightest?" Harry spoke up at that with a smirk on his face,

"No, the woman underneath the mask is brilliant, its...its like having a true equal, it's like she knows what I'm thinking before I say it, always has a quip on hand, and the looks she gives us when she thinks we're not paying attention..." Lily 'mmhmm'd' to that.

"Longing, she looks at us like she's been suffering being alone for years and now that she's allowed herself to be closer she's afraid it will go away..." James nodded very slowly before making up his mind,

"Well, we'll just have to show her that we're not going anywhere and that we approve of who she really is, although schools going to be a pain for her." Harry didn't respond to that at first thinking it over a moment, eventually he said,

"I think...I think if she can take the same oath she did for us in the Great Hall at least eighty percent of her worries will disappear at once, on personal levels yeah...I really can't imagine how that's going to fly. Sure she'll have Iris this year but she'll just be a firsty, and I'll of course be there for her but since she's not wearing the mask do you lot honestly think she's even going to pretend to be tolerant of Lavenader and Parvati much less still play BFF's?" Sirius and Remus exchanged dark glances and shook their heads in the negative, James remained silent but Lily just smiled,

"Don't sell her short yet dear, she's pulled the wool over every person in her life's eyes for four years, I'm sure she has something up her sleeve."

As Lillith lay sprawled out on her beach towel soaking in the setting sun she marveled at the splendor of the Black family private island, it was honestly a hell of a birthday present if she had any say in it. A week in the tropics with her family...heh...family..., although with that pleasant thought she began contemplating school, her bodies former renter associated with what the Dark Lady would have charitably referred to as cannon fodder. That really didn't pique her interest in the slightest but the stupid slut had burned so many bridges she wasn't sure how to mend them, or even if they could be.

It was with these thoughts that Iris plopped down next to her grinning widely, the creepily perceptive little redhead sprawled out using Lillith's extended arm as a pillow. As they absorbed the wonderful dying sunlight her sister eventually asked,

"Are you real? You aren't going away are you? This isn't some trick and I'm going to wake up in the morning and the old you will be back?" Lifting her sunglasses she met the piercing hazel gaze and than flashed a winning smile that had the petite girl grinning back,

"I'm real, this is real and I'm not going anywhere...well aside from Hogwarts, still trying to figure out how I'm going to play that one..." Iris went quiet smiling in contentment and eventually added,

"I just finished my occulumancy training with Aunt Bella, she says I'm a natural just like mum, so if you want a sounding board..." Smirking Lillith pushed her sunglasses up her nose and stared at the darkening sky a bit before responding.

"Well, obviously someone is running around polyjuicing themselves to look like me and sleeping with half the school, so I figure rather than wait for an investigation that will be largely useless I'll just plant a massive supply of the potion with a few locks of my hair in my enemies trunks. When I draw attention to myself and prove I'm still a virgin, hopefully with an oath rather than an examination I'll point out someone may want to check the Slytherin boys dorms for illicit potions..." Iris sat up and stared at her in bare wide eyed shock, after roughly thirty seconds Lillith was afraid that she broke her little sister when she burst into giggles.

"Hehehe! Oh my goddess you've really been hiding your devious side haven't you? How will you get it into their trunks?" Smirking as the girl seemed to grow more comfortable to her 'sisters' true nature the ravenette went into further detail,

"Simple really, no one expects house elves, they just see servants and nothing more when they're really truly clever little guys, I already asked Blinky and she's willing to plant the potions on the train ride into Hogsmeade. No one will suspect her and she's not required to tell anyone about it because it was a _request_ not an order," as Iris began snickering there was clapping behind the girls who both sat up to look over their shoulders. Letting the glasses slide down her nose she looked over them to view the amused smiles of her brother and godfather,

"You...you are such a bloody Slytherin in lions clothing," Harry gasped out between laughs, Lillith was about to panic when Sirius shook his hand and head laughing as well,

"Don't worry don't worry we won't tell anyone, but you realize that polyjuice isn't just illegal at school it's illegal with the ministry, framing up people you don't like is well and good but you could get them expelled or worse." Now, the Dark Lady Maeve would have shrugged and said "And?", but young supposedly innocent Lillith Potter didn't have that luxury, luckily she'd already had this part planned out.

"Why I'm targeting Pure-Blood heirs, Malfoy, Nott, Goyle, Crabbe, Parkinson, people who've made our lives needlessly difficult and helped spread the rumors about myself. Their parents will protect them from the authorities, their reputations though? Eh, not my concern." Sirius gave her an appraising look while Harry crossed his toned arms across his chest shaking his head in amusement, Iris grabbed her hand looking at her with awe,

"Please master teach me your ways!" Now openly laughing at her little sisters antics she patted her on the head affectionately,

"Don't worry Grasshopper Sensei will guide you in the ways of the trouble making rogue, but now its starting to get dark why don't we all head inside for dinner?" The others nodded and Lillith stood brushing sand off herself before helping Iris up, the redhead ran ahead of her siblings to catch up with Padfoot as Harry hooked his arm through hers escorting her to the beach house.

"So this is the devious mind you've been keeping from me all these years hmm?" He asked with honest respect in his eyes, pushing her sunglasses up onto her forehead she leaned her head on the taller teens shoulder as they walked through the still warm sand.

"Yuppers, this is the real Lillith, schemer, plotter, closet pyromaniac, and over all epitome of awesomeness," she let out a sound a startled cat would as Harry playfully flicked her nose,

"Good to see the arrogance wasn't feigned," she snorted at that while releasing his arm while dramatically flinging her hair back, giving him a saucy wink she drawled out,

"Well after all if you've got it, flaunt it," rolling his eyes he retook her arm and they entered the house with easy smiles on their faces, parting ways Lillith hit the room she was sharing with Iris and threw on an AC/DC t-shirt and a pair of cutoff jean shorts. Entering the dining room as Aunt Bella and Mum finished setting the table she sat next to Iris who gave her a happy grin. Lillith eyed the happily smiling people surrounding her, all family who had either died or never existed in her own universe, suddenly feeling overwhelmed she dropped her head so no one could see the tears in her eyes.

"I'm home..." she whispered, unaware that the entire room had heard her, or that they saw the tear drops falling on her plate, no one said a word about it as they shared pleased knowing looks and began dishing out the meal. As the weekend came to an end the now thoroughly rested family took a portkey that deposited them all off at 12 Grimmauld Place, before the Lupin's could floo home Bellatrix pulled Lillith to the side. Eyeing the young woman a moment the slightly batty witch grinned as she dipped her hand into her bag and pulled out a wand, it was polished to a lustrous sheen the dark wood reflecting the morning light.

"This young Lillith has been in the Black family for over a thousand years, our family founder used it till the day she died and passed it on to her daughter, it's been sitting in the Black Vault for centuries, so color me startled that the bloody thing flew at my head when I made a withdrawal last week." Gulping Lillith took the offered wand and felt pure power pulse up her arm as bright violet fire sprayed from its tip, turning her wide eyed gaze to her Aunt the older witch gave her a knowing smirk. Stammering a bit Lillith asked,

"I'm...I'm sorry why give it to me?" Turning to leave Bellatrix glanced over her shoulder looking serious for once,

"It was the day of the twenty-ninth, I found the coincidence interesting, you're going to do great things young woman, but make sure to always protect those you love, and I do know you love them, tata I have to prepare for next terms DADA course work. Apparently the ministry frowned on Moody casting the imperius on students so they're watching me a bit too closely for my liking." With that she was gone, Lillith jammed the wand into her travel bag and walked to the parlor lost in thought, did Aunt Bella know? Did she suspect? Or was she as much of an agent of chaos as Lillith herself was and just wanted to see the fireworks? With these thoughts she entered the room just as her family was about to floo home to Potter Manor, Harry smiled fondly towards her as he offered his hands to both his sisters.

"There you are, come on lets head home and unpack, maybe I can call a few friends over and we can have a pickup game of quiditch, err...that is if you'd like to play sister?" Smirking she allowed him to lead them to the floo, as they entered the green flames the amused sisters kept their clumsy brother from pulling his usual antics of flying out of the fireplace in a tumble, giving the pair a thankful smile he let their hands go as Lillith sauntered to her rooms.

"Dear brother you're about to find out why I never signed up for the team," exchanging a confused look with Iris the siblings followed their sister as Harry asked,

"And why's that Lils?" She nearly stumbled with the new pet name, hiding how pleased it made her she once again feigned arrogance,

"Because Har-bear I'm the best seeker Gryffindor has ever seen, couldn't make you look bad in front of your fangirls now could I?" As she opened the door to her room she threw the pair a mischievous grin and wink before closing it behind her. After a few moments Iris spoke up,

"Har-bear...hehe...gonna remember that one," looking up at her now somewhat contrite brother he was mollified by her wide grin, "I don't care how it happened, what caused it, or what it'll cost us in the end, I never want to lose this Lillith." Stroking his chin slowly Harry nodded slowly,

"Me too little flower, me too..." It only took Harry an hour or two to call several of his friends over, Hermione was as always a bit taciturn not wanting to deal with Lillith but she seemed oddly enthused when he mentioned how much she had changed in the past week. Thankfully all his friends had floo connections so it took less than ten minutes for the group to gather, Ron approached with Fred, George, and Ginny behind him, throwing an arm around Harry his redheaded brother from another mother cheekily quipped,

"About time you got some sun Harry, you were looking as pale as Malfoy there for awhile!" Smirking at his best friend he shook the twins hands and gave Ginny a hug causing her to squeak and blush, there was another flair of green fire as Hermione and Luna entered the room. Luna dreamily waved to the group and it said something about the nature of their relationship that he didn't find it necessary to comment on the tag board 3-D glasses perched on her nose. Hermione as always greeted them all with affection, except for Ron, she coolly and politely said hello but she had never forgiven him for nearly getting her killed first year, ever since the troll incident and resulting head trauma she'd been much less open with strangers or nearly as active in class.

"Hello Harry Potter, hello Iris Potter, where is Lillith Potter?" Luna asked as she began poking at something hovering around Ginny's head that only she could see, the collection of redheads all grimaced at the mention of Harry's dull witted twin but were stopped from replying by an amused drawl,

"Well good to see you lot too, I suppose you haven't explained the particulars of our situation to the gingers yet, or the long term ramifications?" The Weasely's looked confused as they took in the sight of the ravenette in well worn form fitting quiditch gear leaning lazily against the door frame, Ron leaned in to whisper into Harry's ear,

"Why does she sound...smart?" Snorting Harry barely saw the folded snitch fly across the room pegging Ron in the head, he yelped as the group turned back to Lillith who gave them an innocent 'What?' look. Sighing Harry and Iris took turns explaining Lillith's ruse, Ginny and Fred looked impressed, Hermione looked shocked, Luna looked like Luna, and George and Ron looked confused and worried. George coughed a bit and looked very awkward,

"Um...I...I really don't know how to put this but gently...umm...Lillith you and I kind of shagged last year, what does that mean?" Ron nodded numbly as well, Lillith's siblings looked murderous at the idea that their friends thought they'd had sex with their sister but Lillith for her part let out a musical and sad laugh.

"Boys, I'm not too sorry to say I took a magical oath on my virginity, I have no idea who you two shagged but it wasn't me, I _will_ say I smelled polyjuice potion on a few of the Slytherin blokes last year but I really couldn't do anything about it since I was playing my part." The two redheads looked ill at that, Ron spoke up first obviously not wanting to hear the answers to the coming questions,

"How do you know what polyjuice potion smells like?" Shrugging she jerked her thumb over her shoulder towards the manors labs,

"Mum's made the stuff for the ministry since we were little, trust me you can't forget the smell of ass and mud that stuff gives off," George closed his eyes and gathered himself before asking,

"And who did you smell it on?" She hmm'd a moment before replying,

"Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle for sure, I _thought_ I smelled some on Flint but I tried to avoid him at all costs, creepy bloke that one," both George and Ron yelled,

"Excuse me!" as they ran for the wash room, internally Lillith was cackling with glee '_Dance puppets dance!'_ The rest of the gathering looked about sheepishly as they allowed Iris to herd them outside, Hermione hung back and watched Lillith confidently follow the group with an amused smirk on her face. Brown eyes narrowing Hermione took up the rear and did what she did best, observe a situation and process the gathered information before coming to a conclusion; the others may not realize it but this was not the Lillith they'd had to suffer under for the past four years and to the bushy haired brunette, that meant hope.

After George and Ron suitably recovered and received a chastising from Iris and Harry for trying to sleep with their sister the game took off in earnest, Fred, Luna, Ginny, and Lillith on one team, George, Ron, Harry, and Iris on the other, as always Hermione played referee having no desire to get knocked off a broom twenty meters off the ground. After a few intense games the collective agreement was that Lillith was Harry's equal as seeker, which actually made the group ecstatic, Gryffindor had suffered a lack of auxiliaries for over a decade so having a backup seeker was seen as a positive, Lillith just shrugged at the praise but accepted it regardless.

Exhausted Lillith bade the group farewell and trudged off to her rooms, now that she was alone she could finally take a look at the wand Aunt Bellatrix had given her, she wasn't even sure what it was made of, perhaps she could hit Ollivander's before the term started? Shrugging she had shucked off the quiditch gear and was down to her knickers when the door slammed open, caught completely flatfooted her assailant grasped her by the throat and pushed her against the wall. Gasping as a wand was jammed under her chin she met the cold brown gaze of Hermione Granger,

"Who. Are. You." She stated in a cold dead tone, gulping she stared at the brunette wide eyed before something clicked,

"La-Lady Ravenclaw?" Hermione's eyes widened to the size of saucers as tears began to fall, trembling now she dropped her wand and stammered,

"L-La-Lady Slytherin?" Grin widening to massive levels the two friends pulled each other into a tight embrace, Hermione was shuddering and sobbing into Lillith's bare shoulder who was double checking that the door was closed, "It's been so hard Lilly, it's been so hard watching that slut with your face prance about. I...I had no idea how much longer I could stand it, I have no idea how you're finally here but thank the Goddess you are." Stroking the full mane of her friends hair Lillith wryly opined that it was probably best that she and Hermione had never ended up in bed together as her oath would have grossly backfired, soothing the shorter witch Lillith guided her to the bed and bade her to sit down. Throwing on a somewhat clean robe Lillith sat next to her grinning widely,

"Well you first, how did you get here?" Her eyes showed the fierce determination that had made her the Dark Lady's right hand and top general but it faded away as she rolled said eyes and collapsed on the bed,

"First year, Ronald Weasely insulted the Hermione Granger of this universe sending her into tears, she...she died, horrible concussion, brain dead, her soul had moved on, after they healed her body I woke up here with a massive headache and no idea what to do. Imagine my shock when I realized I was a Gryffindor, but your brother, well...Harry's special, he waited beside me the entire time I was in recovery, we became best friends after he 'Saved' me, although I have to restrain myself from hurting Ronald on a daily basis." Nodding sadly Lillith mirrored her actions as she plopped beside her friend,

"The former renter of this fine form drown herself...over a boy...Dean...Thomas I think?" Hermione arced a brow at that than snorted,

"I need to send him a gift basket than, you have no idea how insufferable that bodies original tenant was, so what do we do now?" Lillith hmm'd a bit before pulling Hermione into another hug then stood up,

"Honestly, lets just get out of Hogwarts and worry about the whole world domination thing after graduation, it didn't work out last time and in this world I have a huge brilliant, _alive_ family, plus we have no idea if this Dumbledore is a Dark Lord or not." Hermione shook her head as she also stood making for the door,

"No I've looked into it, he's a good man, incredibly overworked and spends a bit too much time looking at the bigger picture but he means well, hell he nearly had the Triwizard Tournament permanently cancelled but that idiot Fudge vetoed him after it was postponed last year so guess what we get to deal with?" Groaning she cupped her face in her hands, that meant Voldemort was coming after _her_ family this year, and he'd have an agent put _her_ Harry's name in the cup to resurrect himself. Processing that quickly she met the now smirking brunettes eyes,

"Horcruxes?" With that Hermione stuck four fingers out,

"Journal, Diadem, Locket, Ring," grinning in return Lillith allowed herself to cackle a bit, the school year couldn't start soon enough, and when it did she'd have her twins back no matter what, after all the Dark Lady takes care of her own.

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**Since the pairings have already been chosen by the readers the original authors note has been removed**


	3. Ollivander, Still Creepy

_**Original note was about the pairing thing, just enjoy and review folks, take care.**_

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The late afternoon sun shone down on Harry as he tossed a small ball back and forth with Iris, the pair largely ignoring Ron as he paced about the back garden; while the redheads siblings and Luna had gone home he'd stuck around obviously wanting to talk about the days earlier revelations. He'd already decided to let his best mate stew for a bit, honestly he was feeling mildly vindictive when it came to his sisters besmirched reputation and the fact the Ron had pursued her angered him on a few levels. Sure he was being a bit over protective but when someone willingly let everyone in her life think she was a mentally deficiant scarlet woman for the singular purpose of protecting you, well, you wanted to return those affections. Eventually Iris let out an exasperated sigh,

"Ron for the love of Morgana just say what's on your mind already, your going to kill that stretch of grass if you keep pacing like that," Ron paused, a dozen emotions sliding across his face at once before he sighed out in disgust.

"It makes so much sense now," that got the Potter's attention,

"What makes sense mate?" Turning to Harry Ron scratched the back of his head obviously trying to figure the best way to word his thoughts,

"See, you know how Lillith had a reputation," face darkening Harry nodded slowly as Iris reached up and grasped his shoulder, glancing down she met his eyes and shook her head slowly. Getting the message he forced a calming breath out and let his friend continue,

"Well most blokes were kinda looking forward to getting approached by her, easy or not she's drop dead gorgeous, but that was the thing, the rumors had it that she'd just randomly grab a bloke and shag him senseless with no rhyme or reason. That doesn't sound like a high born lady now does it? But..." he looked incredibly ill before continuing, "if it was a bunch of blokes who got off on that kind of thing while at the same time making a light family look tainted..." Harry suddenly felt bad for the gangly ginger, crossing his arms he shook his head tsking,

"You do know what they say about being careful what you wish for," Ron rubbed his face while nodding,

"Don't I know it mate, don't I know it, I'm going to head home and get cleaned up...and see if George wants go see a mind healer with me...you guys take care, tell the others I said bye yeah?" The siblings escorted Ron to the floo and said their goodbyes as they went to search out their sister and Hermione, wandering the halls of the manor Iris took Harry's hand and began swinging their arms back and forth. After a few moments she asked,

"Is this all that is going to be talked about at school? I mean apparently it was a big deal considering how our friends reacted, I was kind of hoping we wouldn't have to deal with drama with the truth out and all." Harry pushed his glasses up with his free hand as he considered his answer,

"It...will be big news for a few days, at most, when her polyjuice scandal hits the rumor networks well, I think certain people are going to want to make the entire situation and all related rumors disappear quickly. Plus with the Triwizard Tournament being forced through there will be more than enough going on to bury it," Iris pursed her lips and scrunched her nose cutely as she processed this. Eventually she let his hand go and crossed her arms, she looked contemplative a moment before asking,

"Are you going to try and compete? From what daddy says the ministry vetoed everything the Headmaster tried to put into place as fail safes, anyone of any age is going to be able to submit their name." He looked down at his dear little sister and stopped their walk, taking a knee he grasped her shoulders and gave her a knowing look,

"What has you worried Iris?" Sighing she tried to bury her concern behind a scowl but it failed, unfortunately when you're adorable that tends to happen, eventually she met her forehead to his,

"I don't want you to compete, we finally have our family in one piece and I don't want to lose it over a stupid tournament, but I _know_ you Harry, you live to compete. You don't like attention but you can't stand not challenging yourself...and...and..." she let out a shuddering breath and closed her eyes in an obvious attempt to collect her thoughts. "People die in this tournament Harry, and I don't want you _or_ Lillith to end up in it..." smiling at the concerned girl he separated from her and lifted her chin to meet his eyes,

"Tell you what little flower, you promise not to put your name in the cup and I'll promise not to put mine in either, deal?" Smiling quickly she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered,

"Deal big brother," before letting him go, that crisis averted the pair began the search for the ever elusive resident bookworm and hidden serpent, after a time they arrived at Lillith's room and they could clearly hear both girls speaking behind the thick oak door. Brows raising Harry knocked and when he heard 'come in' he pushed the heavy door aside, much to his surprise a towel clad Lillith was sitting at her desk chair long legs extended with her feet resting in Hermione's lap.

The young lady in question was painting Lillith's toe nails emerald green and while a bit confused Harry couldn't help but blush as his eyes wandered up and down his sisters toned legs. Coughing he caught a knowing smirk from Hermione but Lillith thank Merlin was oblivious,

"Hello my lovely little sister and dashingly handsome brother, Hermione and I were just discussing what shenanigans are going to happen this school year, my money is dragons and or sphinx's, Hermione here thinks we're going to end up a bit too close to the lakes Merfolk for our comfort, thoughts?" Iris let out a squeak as she rushed over to Lillith and grabbed her hand shaking it energetically,

"There's mermaids at school?!" Snorting Lillith patted the small girls head with honest affection before responding,

"Yes, but they're ugly as sin, fish people for the most part, their voices are beautiful though...err...under water that is, above they sound like..." Hermione snorted and continued the thought,

"Imagine one of Padfoots worst metal rock albums being played at double speed while scratching the needle across the tracks, it's...something to avoid," nodding in agreement Lillith looked over Iris's shoulder and met Harry's gaze with a brilliant smile,

"So anyway what brings you two here?" Harry leaned against the door and looked between his sister and best friend before raising his brows in question, laughing Lillith pointed down to Hermione, "All yours 'Mione." The bushy haired brunette cocked her head to the side a moment before sealing the nail polish bottle and standing up, cracking her neck a bit she turned to Harry and smiled,

"I've known about Lillith's ruse for awhile now, I was honestly the only person she could talk to about it, and since she was doing it all to keep you safe and I owed you my life for that troll incident I decided to keep her secret. I will admit acting like I hated her for four years got old but well..." Iris's eyes bugged out of her head as she took an incredulous tone,

"Hermione Granger, _lied_, no no, Hermione Granger is capable of _subterfuge_?" Hermione for her part gave the girl a questioning look,

"How is it a twelve year old even has subterfuge in her vocabulary? And yes, I can in fact lie if its for a good cause, as things stand now though I must head home, my parents will be wondering were I went off to." With that she gave Iris a hug, kissed Lillith on the cheek (which did things to Harry's brain that he was _not_ going to address at the moment) and did the same to him, before she left the room she whispered into his ear "take care of her" before walking out into the hall.

Lillith stood up and seemed completely unpertured at her state of undress, she grabbed some lacy undergarments from her dresser as she called out,

"Iris, lady time, make the boy leave," the petite redhead giggled as she pushed Harry out of the room throwing him a wink as she slammed the door, rubbing his temples the young man decided on a proper course of action.

"Cold shower, yes, very, very cold shower," nodding in determination he marched off with this goal in mind and he was most certainly not going to think about either Hermione or Lillith in the process.

The rest of the month was spent more or less having fun, Harry's friends had quickly adapted to Lillith's freed persona while she and Hermione had begun making a concerted effort to cause Harry to blush as much as possible, Iris thought it was hilarious so the pair kept it up for that if no other reason. As mid August approached the Potter family plus Hermione made their annual trip to Diagon Alley, Lily was fretting about much to the chagrin of her children.

"Now remember don't talk to anyone offering to sell you enchanted goods off the street, if it isn't a forgery it's likely cursed, also, what do we do if a hag approaches Iris?" Harry, Lillith, and Hermione all spoke as one with equal levels of resolve,

"Curse first, ask questions after we bury the body," nodding in approval Lily continued on,

"Very good, now I _know_ you three will be spending more than a little time at Flourish and Blotts so I'm going to take Iris to get fitted for her robes first, James would you take care of the rest until we meet back up?" Her husband shrugged a bit but nodded his agreement,

"Sure hon, not that they really need their old man holding their hands at this point," with that they split off, as Lily and Iris disappeared in the crowd James spun around grinning widely, "So how would you three like to be cut lose and let an old stag have a pint with his best mates?" Snorting the three didn't even give him a response as they turned and walked away, laughing he parted with "Be good!" before heading off to the Leaky Cauldron. Shaking his head Harry was about to walk to the book store when Lillith turned towards Ollivander's, giving his sister a questioning look she chewed her lip a moment before speaking,

"Aunt Bellatrix gave me a wand, one that practically sings with my magic but I have absolutely no idea what its made of, Ollivander is creepy as hell but he knows his stuff sooo..." Harry nodded as Hermione hooked her arm through his, the brown eyed bookworm smiled knowingly,

"Just be quick or I might buy all the good books before you get back," rather maturely sticking her tongue out at her friend she weaved her way through the foot traffic and entered the dusty old shop, the bell rang and as always Mr. Ollivander seemed to materialize behind her.

"Ah Miss Potter, willow, nine inches, unicorn hair, a bit swishy, how can I help you?" Eyeing the old man Lillith reached into her bag and extracted the Black wand as she'd taken to calling it, Ollivander's bushy eyebrows rose in interest as she handed him the heirloom.

"My Aunt had this fly at her in the Black family vault, she was compelled to give it to me but I have no idea what it is made of and that concerns me," humming to himself the old man had a strange smirk on his face as he mumbled,

"My my how time flies eh Morgana?" Speaking up louder he smiled at her knowingly, "Ebony, thirteen inches, only chooses those who have absolute faith in their own ideals, unrelenting. The core is unique, a thread of basilisk optic nerve soaked in a virgin maidens blood. A very old wand for very powerful deeds, I'm sure you'll do your ancestor justice Miss Potter," hand shaking slightly Lillith took the wand back and eyed it with new appreciation.

"Thank you Mr. Ollivander, err, do you mind if you keep this between the two of us for the time being? My mum will be here with my little sister soon and well," waving her worries off he began sorting boxes in an absent minded sort of way.

"Of course my dear girl of course, honestly I'm just pleased I don't have to fit you with a new wand, you dimension jumpers are always a rough fit, why Charlie Weasely had to have his new wand custom made after he showed up here. You're quite lucky, quite lucky indeed," Lillith was fairly certain she just made a noise only dogs and Ollivander could hear, the wild haired man gave her a knowing smile, "Don't worry Miss Potter, your secret is safe with me and I'm quite sure you are far more suited to live this life over what your counterpart would have accomplished. Do please tell Miss Granger to come by, while her wand is still in sync with her she's due for a full servicing job, now move along the young shouldn't waste time listening to old men natter on."

Leaving the shop in a bit of a daze Lillith shook her head trying to process what just happened, he knew...he knew some how yet didn't care...and what was that about Charlie? Having too many questions without nearly enough answers she slid the Black Wand up her sleeve letting it lock into her wrist holster, heading towards the book store she decided that the only thing to clear her mind was to tease her brother. Plan decided she grinned and marched on, sometimes no longer having the weight and responsibilities of being the Dark Lady on her shoulders really, _really_ made her life more enjoyable.

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**Next Chapter, September First, back to Hogwarts and Lillith dealing with her bodies unlamented former tenants fallout, also what happens when Malfoy picks on Iris within earshot of the Twins, find out next time! As always please review**


	4. Trains, Knives, and Fools

**Only gonna get about two hours of sleep since I stayed up and wrote this but damn, when the muse hits you, it hits you HARD. As always please enjoy and REVIEW! Seriously you people have no idea what a motivation your words are, reviews mean quick updates, look at my story 'The Lady of Slytherin' if you don't believe me in that regard. Anywho, have fun folks!**

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The smell of diesel exhaust, human body odor, and poorly prepared cheap food assailed Harry's senses as he exited the floo at Kings Cross Station, he quickly glanced to his left and right making sure both of his sisters had retained their footing. Lillith gave him a lopsided smirk and Iris mirrored it with mirth swimming in her eyes, obviously both girls were more concerned he'd go flying as normal than for their own well being. Huffing he let their hands go, their trunks had already been transferred to the Hogwarts express loading area by the Potter House elves so the three just stood there until their parents appeared. James and Lily soon emerged from the emerald flames quickly followed by Padfoot and Moony, the three Marauders and honorary prankster looked upon the antique steam engine with nostalgic smiles. Turning to the youngest members of their group Remus spoke up first,

"Now, you all behave this year and don't do anything _we_ would, Iris do you have everything, your wand, familiar, spending money?" Nodding quickly the little redhead gave her uncle a knowing smirk, James spoke up next,

"Harry keep an eye on your sisters, with the tournament going on this year there's going to be quite a few new faces about, it's your job to keep them safe or-" eyes swimming with a bit of honest happiness as he glanced to his eldest daughter, "in Lillith's case keep her out of trouble. Something tells me she's got all _sorts_ of vengeance planned out for this year," the young woman in question raised her brows and gave them an innocent '_Who, Me?_' look that was ruined by the feral grin she sported a moment later. Chuckling James hugged each of his children as Lily stepped forward, she kissed Harry on the forehead, pulled Iris into a crushing hug while whispering something to her that caused her to laugh, than stopped in front of Lillith.

"Honey, I've wanted to be able to say this for years, I'm so proud of you, you're as sneaky and clever as a Slytherin, brave and fearless as a Gryffindor, as intelligent and rational as a Ravenclaw, and as loyal and understanding as a Hufflepuff. Remember no matter what you don't have to wear a mask anymore, your family is here for you, and we'll be proud of you no matter what, always and forever." Brushing aside the tears that grew at the corners of her daughters eyes she pulled the ravenette into a crushing hug that she gladly returned, "I love you honey," barely keeping the sob back she felt the girl nod quickly.

"I love you too mum," as they broke their embrace Sirius stepped forward while he grinned to each of them as the almost always manic gleam in his eyes caused his silver eyes to glow as he handed each of his Godchildren a small package, looking down to Iris he spoke to her first.

"You all can get away with carrying these since they're Black family heirlooms and since you're all declared my legal heirs well...the ministry can just sod off, little flower both your brother and sister know how to handle these so ask them for a bit of training on the side. Now, if you need _anything_ don't hesitate to ask, and...well if one of you decides to commit the incredibly foolish act of actually trying to compete in this Tournament, don't be afraid to ask for advice yeah?" Grinning the Potter children pulled their Godfather into a group hug, after a few more tearful goodbyes the trio left the adults to grab their trunks at the loading station. James watched as the twins simultaneously wrapped a protective arm around Iris's shoulders, their heads moving in sync as they scanned the platform for threats, neither ravenette letting anyone within two meters of their charge.

Remus seemed incredibly pleased with this as he quietly chuckled to himself, turning to his family he grinned widely as he caught their eyes,

"I think I'm actually jealous of Bellatrix, those three are going to make quite a splash this year and I'd love to watch the fallout," the group nodded sharing knowing smirks as their pride and joy entered the ancient train, this year was going to be a year for Hogwarts to remember.

Theodore Nott was many things, heir to an Ancient and Noble house, practitioner of the proper ways to behave in Pure-Blood society, cultured to a point most would consider him stuck up, and most of all very, _very_ observant. That being said as he watched the blood traitor Potter family enter Platform 9 3/4's he paused as he took in the sight of the eldest daughter, he stopped mid-conversation with Daphne as his brow furrowed in confusion. The cold Greengrass heir rather than taking offense turned to gaze out the window herself and her eye actually ticked, a massive display of emotion from the normally stoic blonde.

Lillith Potter was always wearing the most recent trends, the vapid air about her almost suffused with her banal babbling, the girl...no young woman escorting the small redhead and her older brother now screamed 'Danger' more than anything. She was wearing a dark blouse that showed a very modest amount of cleavage that drew the eye but didn't insult the wearer, a pair of dark blue slacks, knee high laced up heavy boots and finger-less gloves finished the ensemble. Over this was worn an ankle length black jacket that was cut to extenuate her figure yet still billowed enough to hide anything she kept beneath it.

Her right hand kept flexing in an obvious gesture of being prepared to call forth her wand, her eyes showed ruthless cunning and a spark of condescension, the look she was giving all those around her was that of a bored, hungry predator. Most telling though was the smirk, they'd both seen it before on the faces of their own fathers and the other associates of the fallen Dark Lord; it was the look of a thoroughly amused wolf released amongst the sheep that couldn't wait for someone to do something stupid, such as provoke it. As shocking as it was to say the Potter's eldest daughter nearly fit the bill of a dark witch with the primal power gathering about her, the pair exchanged looks and after a short time Theo closed the blinds,

"Miss Greengrass?" He asked with no inflection in his voice, Daphne nodded slowly to him to continue, "I do believe I want no part in Malfoy's plans this year," taking a sip of her tea she nodded slowly as her dark blue eyes sparked with curiosity for what they had just seen.

"Mister Nott...I am in full agreement, shall we stand back and observe?" Nodding slowly Theo extended his hand to her and the blonde didn't hesitate to grasp it and shake informally signing their neutrality before the coming storm swept them aside. It would be several months before either teen realized how intelligent this decision was.

As the Potter's climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express Lillith couldn't stop the grin that crawled up her face, sure she'd already done her time at the ancient castle but now she wasn't a target, her days would be spent studying and hanging out with her friends and family. Family, damn just the word made her stomach flutter, absently messing Iris's hair causing the irate preteen to whine a bit the Potter twins chose a compartment and stowed their trunks. After a few minutes Hermione showed up giving the group a small grin,

"Harry don't get too comfortable we have the Prefect meeting soon after all," Harry groaned at this glaring down at the shiny badge on his chest, his bushy haired partner rolled her eyes quickly at his antics. "Harry you _can't_ wear your bomber jacket to the meeting, put your robes on and lets get going," mumbling to himself as his sisters laughed at his expense he tossed off the leather jacket and threw on a standard Hogwarts robe. Adjusting his tie he raised his brow inquisitively,

"Happy now that I'm swimming in a trashbag 'Mione?" Surprising everyone but Lillith she smirked before turning away,

"Of course not how can I stare at your arse in that thing? Come come lets get this over with I'm _sure_ Snivellus made Malfoy a prefect so this should be interesting." Grinning at his friend Harry waved goodbye to his sisters as the cabin closed, Lillith was quiet a moment before she grinned to Iris and pulled the package Padfoot had given her from her pocket. Mirroring the gesture Iris removed her own gift and tore off the plain brown paper, she gasped as she held a long elegant dagger in her hands.

"Niiiiice, looks like Sirius raided the Black vault, you know what these knives do?" Iris shook her head in the negative as she felt her eyes being drawn to the blades razor edge, "They're enchanted with unbreakable and ever-sharp runes." Smirking and looking as if she was meeting a long lost friend Lillith twirled her blade between her fingers in an expert manner further cementing her 'Cool' image with her little sister as she did so, "To top it off they have an otherwise illegal enchant imbued into the steel to inflict uncontrollable fear in anyone cut with the blade, neat huh?" Iris nodded quickly before her head snapped up,

"I have no idea how to use a knife Lils..." smirking at her little sister the former Dark Lady stood up and took a standard knife fighters stance,

"Well no time like the present eh sis?"

Harry was in hell. No no, really, listening to the head boy and girl ramble on as Hermione, _Hermione_ napped leaning against him while Draco sneared at everyone in the room that wasn't a Slytherin definitely qualified as hell. Trying to casually wake his best friend up as the meeting ended she blinked owlishly at him as she straitened up and stretched, standing Harry offered his hand and she accepted it being pulled up quickly. The pair turned to face Malfoy and his cronies, as Draco opened his mouth Hermione raised her hand quickly,

"I am literally incapable of caring about what you have to say Malfoy, a quantum super computer hooked to every human brain on this rock devoting all power to processing the equation could not _fathom_ the lack of fucks I give about what you or your ilk thinks. Now, please, go off and have sex with your mother to gurantee your bloodlines purity, I personally have duties that I need to perform." With that she grabbed Harry's arm and dragged the now gobsmacked boy along with her '_I'm twenty seven bloody years old I will NOT deal with this shit a second time,'_ the normally courteous bookworm seethed to herself. After a minute of silence Harry stopped her and pushed her against a cabin wall,

"Hermione what was that all about?" Glaring up at her Lady's brother, her best friend for the past four years Hermione snorted and stood on her tip toes while she kissed the corner of his lips causing him to blush,

"We all have a breaking point Har-bear, come on we have to check on the firsties," grumbling about his sister and her stupid nicknames he followed his fellow prefect through the trains halls mind dwelling on the chaste kiss he'd just been gifted.

Iris was giggling with honest joy as she moved about the now magically expanded cabin, Lillith was an absolute terror with her knife but rather than scaring the redhead it egged her on to try harder. Lillith for her part was ecstatic to bestow her CQC training to her little sister who shocker, absorbed knowledge like a sponge, as she deflected a downward thrust the cabin doors opened and both Potter girls spun and threw their knives as one. Draco Malfoy stared to his left, then his right in horror as the quivering blades shook in the door frame, Lillith turned to Iris offering her fist and her little sister didn't hesitate to thump it with her own.

"Well done little flower, now remember what I taught you over summer when you practiced summoning your wand, focus on the _handle_ not the knife itself if you wanna avoid getting stabbed," completely ignoring the trio of Slytherin's Lillith held her little sisters shoulders as she focused on the blade she'd thrown. As the small girls face turned red from exertion her knife quivered a moment than flew at her, catching the projectile handle first she couldn't help jumping up and down cheering. Lillith for her part clapped happily, "Good work! Wandless magic is a bitch but if you learn _anything_ summoning your lost weapon to your hand is what you should know." Still smirking Lillith summoned her own blade to her open palm, twirling it between her fingers she slide it into the wrist holster Sirius had gifted along with the dagger before turning back to Malfoy, raising a brow she waited for the stunned boy to say something.

After a few moments the blonde boy sneered at the girls, Lillith sighed at this, her Draco had grown up without his father who spent over a decade in Azkaban, he'd been a scholar, kept his long hair in a braided ponytail and left shoulder length bangs to frame his face. He habitually wore a pair of rimless reading glasses and had a tendency of slipping into a poets prose which of course endeared him to the women in their organization, she _loved _her Draco beyond words. This ...child pissed her off from the get go, his hair was slicked back with what she could only assume was tallow, his condescending sneer reminiscent of the worst of Voldemort's court, and most of all he was leering at Iris. That...that was a bad idea for anyone who enjoyed having their genitalia firmly connected to their bodies, so with that she gave the boy and his bookends her full focus as she crossed her arms, dagger and wand at ready.

"Hello Draco, what do you want?" Seemingly snapping out of whatever nasty little reverie he had been in the blonde boy sneered again as he also crossed his arms leaning against the door jamb,

"So, the Gryffindor slut thinks she has the right to address her betters huh? Why don't we go to a private cabin and you can earn yourself some standing with the real power behind the ministry? Or if you aren't interested, maybe we could borrow your sister for a romp, heh or maybe the both of you? It _is_ all you blood traitor whores are good for after all." As Malfoy and his cronies laughed while giving Iris appraising looks Lillith blinked rapidly, she turned to her aghast little sister and back to Malfoy, a moment later she felt something slip that she _really_ shouldn't have let loose, and that was her self control. Eye's glowing killing curse green the three boys took a shocked step back as her sudden 'slasher grin' exposed teeth extending into curved points, she was always quite good at silent self transfiguraton.

"I'm going to enjoy this waaaaay too much Malfoy, now be a good boy and tell me when it starts to hurt, which should be fairly quick since I sincerely doubt getting gelded is something you'll fail to notice." Flicking her wrists to release her weapons she twirled her dagger and wand as she marched forward her sadistic laughter filling the compartment causing the three boys to stammer incoherently as they fell back into the corridor in a panic. Just as she was about to show them what happens when you sexually proposition the little sister of a woman who handed the cruciatus out like candy they were interrupted by an angered yell.

"Draco what the hell are you doing?! I know Snape favors your little clique but you still have to complete your patrol!" With the admonishment from the Head Girl Malfoy turned tail and ran, still seething Lillith sheathed her weapons and tried to restrain the wild magic flowing through her body. She tensed in shock as a pair of gentle hands wrapped around her waist, looking down at the crying redhead that had wrapped herself around her elder sister Lillith returned the gesture, releasing the dark magic that had built up inside her Lillith fell onto a cushioned seat bringing her sobbing sister with her.

"I'm sorry little flower, that won't happen again," still crying Iris's tear stained hazel eyes stared at her with determination,

"You're so strong Lillith...please...teach me how to not be scared by the likes of _him,_" smirking Lilly pulled Iris up into her lap before she began speaking

"The first thing you have to remember when dealing with idiots is that you're better then them in every way..." and so began the tutelage of the next generation, and for some reason Lillith felt no shame in beginning to impart her dark knowledge on her little sister, it felt so...right.


	5. Confirming Allegiances

**I heavily edited the end of last chapter to actually justify Lilly's reaction so I suggest giving it a quick reread. Now I intend to update this once more this weekend as well as finish the summer holiday arc for "Lady of Slytherin", hopefully I can keep my goals on track. **

**I know some of you have a habit of playing grammar police but please don't bother with this one, I have no beta and the spell checks not working for some reason, I'll go over it with a fine tooth comb tomorrow to fix any screw ups.**

**As always read, enjoy AND REVIEW!**

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As Harry finished his rounds with Hermione his mind was still trying to process the kiss he'd received and whether or not he was looking too much into it, it was with these hormonal teenage thoughts that the pair opened the door to their cabin to see a tired looking Lillith holding a sleeping Iris. The small redhead looked like she'd been crying while the elder Potter sister seemed to be teetering between deep sadness and fiery rage, looks of concern were mirrored by both prefects as they entered the room and closed the door. Each taking a seat next the ravenette witch Harry began stroking Iris's cheek as he asked,

"What happened?" Spitting out a grated whisper Lillith was obviously struggling to control her anger,

"Malfoy and his cronies showed up, they tried sexually propositioning me...than Iris..." Hermione and Harry gasped at this for completely different reasons; Harry in shock that even Malfoy would go that far, Hermione because she knew her Lady well and had no idea were they could hide bodies on the train. Looking back and forth in sudden confusion Hermione wrapped an arm around Lillith's shoulder and quietly asked,

"Were are the bodies, did you hide them already?" Harry snorted at the 'joke' but Lilly only shook her head,

"Didn't touch them, scared the hell out of them yes but they clambered out of the cabin just as the Head Girl was making her rounds..." Trailing off Lillith remained quiet for a time as she slowly rocked her little sister back and forth, just like her Auntie Bella use to do for her back home when she was young. That thought took her back, her Aunt had been dead five years her time, it had taken a hit squad of fifty Aurors and Hit Wizards to pin her down and even than she was the only one to walk away. Blood loss...what a way for a War-Witch to die...

"What are we going to do? If he made the threat before he may act on it just for spite, and you know his father can get him out of almost anything," Harry stated, Lillith had an idea of what she could do she just wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. Turning to her twin she smiled sadly,

"I...was wondering, do you still have dads invisibility cloak?" Paling a bit Harry coughed quietly before hastily whispering back,"

"How do you know about the cloak?" Lillith let a single eyebrow raise and just stared at him, eventually he scoffed and rubbed his face in his hands displacing his glasses, jamming them back into place he nodded quickly, "Yeah I have it, why?" Leaning back into Hermione's embrace she let her head fall back onto the rest and closed her eyes.

"I'm going to need to borrow it for a few hours sometime this week, if what I plan works out you and 'Mione will be the first to know, deal?" Torn between being contrite about her knowledge of the cloak and concern for both his sisters he was about to snap out something when he caught Hermione's eye, he stared into the caring brown orbs a moment longer than gave in.

"All right, all right, but you better be careful," Lillith snorted disturbing Iris a bit but the girl remained asleep,

"Don't worry Harry I won't damage your precious cloak ok?" Eyes narrowing in confusion he shook his head slowly as he threw an arm around her mirroring Hermione's gesture,

"My cloak? No I want you to be careful because I don't want anything to happen to you, you're my sister and I love you, I'm just worried you're going to bite off more than you can chew and get hurt." Blushing a bit at this revelation Lillith buried her face in Iris's hair and whispered,

"Oh." They remained silent the rest of the trip which thankfully remained uneventful, ten minutes out from Hogsmeade station they awoke Iris and changed, none of them were happy about this seeing as they all preferred their muggle attire. As the train rolled to a halt Lillith took Iris's hand in her own and Harry followed suit, as they followed Hermione out into the station they received several odd looks but no one commented on the sudden civility between the Potter twins. Yet.

"Firs' years teh me! Firs' years teh me!" Seeing the hairy half giant brought an instant smile to Lillith's face, he'd died her fifth year when Umbitch had the ministry raid the castle, it was the same night that the Auror's nearly killed Minerva as well. She fought back the tears that welled up thinking of her gentle friends ignoble death at the hands of MacNair's killing curse, if her bodies former renter had done one thing right according to Hermione it had been befriending _this_ Hagrid. So feeling no trepidition the pair approached the jovial giant who perked up upon seeing them,

"Lilly, Harry! It's good ta see ya bot'," giving them an appraisingly look as they held onto the petite redhead between them he couldn't help but laugh, "Looks like ya two finally fixed things up between ya eh?" The twins both smiled and nodded as Harry spoke up,

"It ends up things weren't as bad as I thought they were, we'll explain everything later, but first we'd like to introduce someone to you. Iris, this is Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Game Keeper of Hogwarts, Hagrid this is Iris Potter, our little sister." Iris released her siblings hands and performed a perfect curtsy as she quietly said,

"Pleased to meet you sir," while staring up, and up, and up at the smiling man before her, letting out another laugh his massive hand came down and gently patted Iris on the head,

"None o' tha' sir business with me lassie, I'm friends with your brothe' and siste' and yer mum and da, it's just Hagrid ok?" Smiling and nodding in return Iris allowed the giant to guide her with the rest of the first years, as she turned to face her siblings they mouthed 'Good Luck' at the same time causing her to giggle. Hermione coughed to get their attention and jerked her head back to the thestral drawn carriages,

"Shall we?" Nodding the pair eached hooked an arm around one of Hermione's and picked the smaller witch up as she gave an indignent "Humph!" that was ruined by her amused smile. As they neared the carriages a couple in Slytherin robes stood in their path, the female, Daphne Greengrass nodded slowly as she emotionlessly stated,

"Potter, Granger, Potter," Inclining her head slightly as conditioning from a near decade in the snake pit took hold Lillith released Hermione's arm and stood strait, her face becoming an impassive mask. Daphne allowed an eyebrow to raise while the young man, Theodore Nott smirked slightly before continuing,

"Miss Potter we'd like a word with you, alone if you would," Harry was about to 'Pull a Gryffindork' when Hermione began walking still holding onto his arm, as she passed the pair she nodded dragging the confused Harry along with her.

"That one is well trained, she knows how the game is played," Daphne conceded her dark blue eyes never leaving Lillith's gaze, Theo motioned for the two young ladies to follow him over to were the house elves were unloading trunks onto the landing. Taking a breath he pulled his wand out which automatically had Lilly's aimed at his chest and her knife at Daphne's throat, rather than taking offense the pair smirked and exchanged a knowing look. Giving the Gryffindor a cheeky grin he drawled out,

"No worries potter, just security charms," eyeing him cooling Lilly slowly lowered her weapons nodding, Theo quickly cast the spells than sighed relaxing a bit, "All right here is what's going on, Daphne and I,"

"Tracey as well," Daphne quickly threw in, Theo nodded waving his hand absently,

"Right right, Davies too, we've noticed that you've...changed, or rather you're letting people see the real you, would we be correct in assuming this?" Lillith mulled over how to approach this question but eventually shrugged and nodded, smiling he looked to Daphne to continue.

"Long short Miss Potter, we want no part in your coming confrontations with Slytherin, while we have to show a united front outside of the common room please know that there are just as many factions and divides in our house as there are in the ministry. We're vilified the school over simply for the colors we wear and the ideals we cherish, so we're stuck in a quandary when forced to support idiots like Malfoy to keep up the facade of house cohesion." Lillith sighed and shocked the pair as she crossed her arms and mumbled,

"The house is all we have, we are villains simply for having the gall to claim what is rightfully ours, do not give our enemies the knowledge they can divide us, we may not have to like each other but we must make _them_ think that crossing one Slytherin will draw the entire snake pits to ire..." She looked incredibly sad as she finished espousing Professor Snape's first year speech, smiling at the gobsmacked pair she asked, "You want me to know that you three have no part in whatever the junior Death Muncher is planning, pure neutrality correct?" Theo swallowed heavily not quite knowing how to take the woman in front of him breaking their plans down so expertly so he just chose to nod.

Looking back and fourth between the pair she jerkily nodded, "All right, you guys are in the clear, get going I can't have anyone see me walking from the train with you, Gryffindork's are practically xenophobes when it comes to Slytherins." The pair exchanged one final look before nodding and walking away, after they had walked a good distance Daphne broke the silence,

"Well that was..." fishing for a word Theo threw out,

"Unsettling?" Nodding slowly Daphne took his hand as they approached a carriage held by Tracey, the dark haired girl looked at the pair expectantly, Theo got into the carriage and helped Daphne up. Sighing he let the calm veneer fail as he shuddered slightly, meeting Tracey's worried eyes he smiled lightly, "We're good, everyone else though? Well..." he left it at that.

Lillith tapped her chin thoughtfully before she called her families house elf,

"Binky!" A moment later there was a crack and an excitable little elf in a maids outfit began hopping up and down,

"Yes Mistress Potter!?" Smiling down at the little creature Lillith quickly asked,

"Did you plant the potions as asked?" The elf nodded quickly while smiling still, nodding Lillith took a scrap of parchment from her pocket as well as a muggle ball point pen, quickly scribbling a note she handed it to the elf. "I'd like you to remove the potion and hairs from Theodore Notts trunk and stick that parchment in the empty vial, can you do that without getting caught?" Hopping again the elf affirmed the request,

"Of course Mistress Potter Binky can be doing this for you," thanking her the elf than vanished, Lillith left the station and took up a brisk pace as she hopped into the carriage held by Harry and Hermione both of whom looked worried, flashing them a grin as she kicked up her legs to rest her feet on the empty seat opposite of her. Staring out the window a moment she let out a long held breath as the carriage began to move,

"It is going to be an incredibly interesting year you two...I'll explain more after the feast just...give me time to think..." Nodding the pair of prefects gave her concerned looks but returned to their own conversation leaving the ravenette witch to her thoughts.

Iris was in a bit of a befuddled mood, after her encounter with Malfoy and what Lillith described as 'A crash course on how to screw with everyone you hate' she'd initially felt emotionally drained, on top of that after being forced to separate from the twins she'd had an information overload from all the wondrous sights she'd seen. So it didn't really surprise her that she didn't remember much between the boat ride and her name being called in the sorting, speaking of which,

"Potter, Iris!" The stern looking Scotswoman stated, gulping nervously she walked up to the stool and climbed up on it, as the tatty old hat was about to be dropped on her head she couldn't help but grinning when she saw Lilly and Harry giving her thumbs up and supportive smiles. It was a bit disconcerting how the hat was so big that it covered her eyes, she figured the person who it had been made for originally must have been quite large,

"_Quite large indeed my dear, as big headed as they come actually, although you'd never get Godric to admit it,"_ she gasped at the voice in her head, voices in her head?! Oh no! Only crazy people hear voices in their hea-

"_Haha! Just like your mother little one, don't worry I'm quite disconnected from your mind, I'm simply a visitor that decides were to best sort you, now lets take a look,"_ Iris had the most disquieting sensation that someone was rooting around her mind like it was a messy car boot, after a few moments the voice returned. "_Yes, you're highly intelligent, almost as well off as your friend Miss Granger, hmmm you'd do well in Ravenclaw but you're far too much like your parents, you want to use your knowledge not hoard it. Quite loyal, quite loyal indeed, and very hard working you've taken to your sisters lessons quite well, but your loyalty isn't to your house or friends, it is solely to your family. Clever, oh oh so clever and ambitious, you'd do well in Slytherin as well but I sense some fear in you,"_ the images of her encounter with Draco came unbidden, the hat was a bit nonplussed seeing the elder Potter sister throw around Sorceress levels of ambient magic to defend the redhead.

The hat decided to shrug this off for now, weirder things had happened at Hogwarts in its time than a previously hopeless girl coming into her power so it continued where it left off, "_No no, not Slytherin, too much of Mr. Riddle's influence there right now, hmm. You're brave and couragous, you were willing to take the risk of letting your sister back into your heart after so many years of neglect and the love you share with your siblings has clearly shown you that victory favors the bold, there can honestly be no other choice for you then,_

**"_GRIFFINDOR!"_** As the hat bellowed her home for the next seven years she was greeted with thunderous applause, as she made her way to the other nervous first years she yelped when she was intercepted by the Potter twins,

"None of that young lady," Lillith chided, Harry nodded quickly and added,

"You have all the time in the world to get to know your years mates,"

"But right now you get to spend your first Hogwarts feast with the best!" Lillith continued, Harry picked up right after that

"The bravest!"

"The most humble!"

"And oh so beautiful!" With Harry's final statement Iris was in stitches as she was placed between her excited siblings at their bench, looking around at the semi-stalled ceremony she was worried a moment when she noticed the slight smirk on the Scottish woman's face and the twinkling blue eyes of the Headmaster, looking about all the smiling (and somewhat confused) older Gryffindor's, and back to her grinning siblings Iris decided that this year was going to be her best year ever.

Albus Dumbledore was tired, he was tired of everyone looking up to him, everyone running to him when things went pear shaped, and then blaming him for their failures when they failed to heed his advice, truth be told he didn't want _any_ of the positions foisted upon him by the wizarding world outside of running his precious school. It was this mindset that made him so look forward to every new school years sorting and feast, seeing all the young and excited first years gawking at the splendor of the Great Hall, all the old friends gathering together and catching up, and to see how his personal favorites had grown over the summer.

That was when he spotted the young man meant for greatness, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter as he entered the room arm in arm with his estranged twin, the sight managed to startle the aged headmaster so badly he nearly choked on his lemon drop. He watched the girl with a keen eye, taking note of her body language, demeanor, general attitude, and found it all disturbingly familiar, it took him up to young Iris getting sorted to finally put his finger on it. Lillith Potter was acting like Harry, but in a more subdued manner, how interesting, there were a couple rational theories to explain the sudden change, some of them good, some of them very much the opposite, but as the sorting hat declared young Iris for Gryffindor the following scene stayed his hand.

As the Potter twins excitedly snatched up their little sister and placed the giggling girl between them he couldn't help but smile, as the small redhead met his eyes she threw him a grin than turned back to her sister with a loving look on her face, shrugging it off for now Albus decided to leave it be. Whatever changes had occurred to Lillith Potter over the summer had been for the better, he'd simply observe for now and only interfere if it was necessary. It was with that he went through his yearly speech, when he explained the Triwizard Tournament there was of course excitement, but then he had to add the part that truly had him wary,

"It is...with many reservations that I must inform you that in the ministries infinite wisdom-" hopefully the sarcasm hadn't been too thick there, "that there will be no age limits on who may enter, _now_ I must warn you all this is not a challenge for the faint of heart or the weak of will, eternal glory you very well may earn but there is a price. This Tournament has been cancelled for centuries due to the egregious death count of champions...and spectators come to think of it." Some of the excited faces were looking scared, good, hopefully he'd keep the foolish and headstrong from getting themselves killed before they finished puberty. Clearing his throat once more the Great Halls doors swung open and a gorgous woman in a black floor length dress entered as she chattered to herself while scribbling notes into a muggle notepad, doing his best to hide his smirk he paused his speech as the woman approached the head table.

"No no no the equation needs a square root, can't have any remainders, lets see, we could use whipped cream to counter the acidity of the cockatrice blood but the fumes would cause a nargle infestation and that's just not good for anyone, lets see I-" she paused and looked up from her pad seemingly surprised to have the entire school staring at her. Turning to the very bemused Headmaster she cocked her head to the side sending her long wavy hair flowing, "Oh dear am I late?" Gently laughing he extended his hand towards the slightly barmy witch,

"Students allow me to introduce you to your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Bellatrix Lupin!"

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**Good place to stop as any, hope you like it, please REVIEW**


	6. Wait, You're Dark Too?

**There's going to be a gentle shift to mostly Harry's POV up till Halloween, sorry this isn't longer but I don't get enough sleep as is, as always enjoy and REVIEW!**

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The first evening back at Hogwarts had gone by without much fanfare outside of the Potter twins impromptu cheering for the new defense professor who after her introduction wandered off without eating dinner muttering something about warding her drinks against potions. Harry really didn't know what to think of that one honestly, Aunt Bella could be eccentric yes, a holdover of the LeStrange's breaking the chastity vows that had been placed on her as a teenager when the drunken brothers had 'wanted a good time' but still... well... Actually never mind it probably took some serious willpower to come back to the scene of her near rape especially without her savior/husband there.

With that thought he was chattering rather amiably with Hermione as they came back from their first evening of patrol, Harry had been a bit nervous with the authority but his bushy haired friend was indifferent; like most things she handled it with practiced ease and cold indifference as if she'd done it hundreds of times already. Stepping through the portrait hole leading into the Gryffindor tower they heard angry voices from above. Sighing the pair exchanged glances and trudged up the stairs to a scene they'd hoped to avoid till a later date,

"Look Lilly you can drop the cold act I know how broken you up were when I dumped you and I admit it was for a selfish reason, I guess I just got into our relationship with different expectations than you." Lillith's response would have sounded neutral but he picked up the condescending undertone he himself typically used when he was dealing with the rather mercurial temperaments of their house,

"Different Expectations? I wouldn't let you stick it in my arse and so you dumped me for Lavender, who incidentally also dumped _you_ when you wanted to stick it in her arse, I'm noticing a trend here Dean. Now kindly back off a lot happened over summer and I don't have to pretend to give a shit about you or anyone else for that matter any longer." Finally getting the entire room into view both prefects sighed, the entirety of the nosy gossiping Gryffindor house was watching the heating up argument, Dean stammered for a few seconds before he sneered. Frankly the expression did not suit the normally kind teen in the slightest,

"Well excuse me, I just figured someone who'd already toured all the broom closets in the school...twice mind you, would be up to some experimentation," Lillith's brows were lost in her bangs as she turned to the now furiously blushing Lavender.

"He talking about you or me? Honestly Lav what did we see in this bloke?" The blonde let out a breathe as she slowly growled out,

"Dunno Lils, I really dunno, as for which one of us I'm still a virgin I'm, err..." Lillith nodded as she tapped her chin with her pointer finger,

"Me too, interesting those rumors," this gained pause from most in the room and earned her more than a few incredulous looks, she looked about a moment and sighed in exasperation. "People I'm aware of the rumors I just let them slide because they fit me playing the underachiever, and none of you believe me do you?" She sighed again and much to Harry's surprise she looked towards Neville who was doing his level best to remain unseen, as always the poor clumsy bloke.

She waved quickly grabbing his attention, he looked about in confusion and gave her a 'Who me?' look as she nodded, "You think a magical vow would set these folks straight Nev?" He along with most of the tower (sans Hermione,) looked on in confusion as she seemingly called the boy out at random,

"Err, yes I suppose," grinning she clapped once,

"Brilliant, now as the Heir to Gryffindor I need you to repeat after me, 'I Neville Longbottom, Heir to the Noble House's Longbottom and Gryffindor so sayeth that if what Lillith Dorea Potter claims in her next statements is untrue she shall be cast from the House for the remainder of her days, so it is said so mote shall it be,' got that all?" Neville was gaping like a fish and the rest of the house was not far behind, one of the seventh years sneered out,

"What, Longbottom? That squib the Heir of Gryffindor?" He yelped in shock as Lilly pointed at the boy and he went flying into the wall, the act of casual wandless magic now making many weary, turning back to Neville she smiled again.

"Nev I'm waiting my friend," gathering his wits (and his courage) he gained a resolved look and repeated what she'd said, further shocking the Gryffindor's a swirl of red light danced up the boys figure before fading away with what sounded like a growl.

Laughing Lilly repeated her vow she'd made earlier that summer to her family and in one fluid motion her wand was out and her spectral thestral was summoned forth, as the embodmient of happiness in the form of the harbinger of death cantered about the room earning awed coos from the crowd several boys spoke up at once.

Obviously more who thought they'd shagged his sister, growling in anger he stomped into the room and threw an arm around his surprised twins shoulders, she glanced up at him and gave him a winning smile. Clearing his throat to get everyone's attention he took on the drawl Padfoot did when he had to address the Wizengamot,

"If I may make a suggestion? You might like to ask the Professor's to have a certain house in the Dungeons trunks checked for illicit potions since _obviously_ none of you had intimate relations with my sister..." Hermione walked up beside him wearing a bemused smirk, this wasn't lost on her house mates, an amused Hermione meant she knew something quite scandalous that no one else had picked up on and rather than gossip she'd be keeping it to herself. This more than anything sent several older boys into a panic but she rather sweetly stated,

"You'll all have to wait till tomorrow to find out who or, heh...what you've all been getting on with, for now it's past curfew and the shows over, now, bed." As the room cleared both Lilly and Hermione assured Lavender and the other girls that they'd be up in a few minutes, eventually Harry walked up to Iris and patted the small preteen on the head.

"What do you think short stuff? I'm gonna go with 'Thessie,' Lillith blanched as Iris giggled,

"I think I like that," Lillith crossed her arms glaring at her siblings,

"We are not naming my patronus 'Thessie,' Harry," Grinning even wider he leaned down and kissed her forhead causing her to pout rather cutely,

"Oh we're so doing just that, payback for getting half the people I know calling me 'Har-Bear,' so fairs fair." A knowing smirk curled up her lips as she gave him a coy look,

"You do realize my fellow Marauder, this means war," grinning in return he bowed once and left for the boys dorms, as he approached the stairs he heard her yell, "And hey, Harry? Thanks, thanks for speaking up for me, I appreciate it." Waving over his shoulder in acknowledgment he trekked up the stairs and ignored his roommates, Ron looking lost since he had half of interactions with Lillith from last year obliviated, Seamus because he was busy making his bed, Dean because he looked ill, and well... Neville was laying on his back staring at the ceailing grinning widely.

Changing into his pajamas he unceremoniously fell into his bed and cast a nox on the lights, as he began to drift off he snorted in amusement as he heard Neville chuckle happily,

"Hehe...Lord Gryffindor...wait till Gran hears about this..." The next morning Harry woke up later than everyone else, traditionally the first day back held no classes regardless the day of the week so the first years could learn to traverse the castle with more ease so there really was no rush. Stretching he grabbed his glasses and slid them on, grumbling to himself he showered and changed and trudged down into the common room to find both Hermione and Lillith waiting for him.

Hermione was reading a book with her arm propped up on the rest an while Lillith lay sprawled out head laying in the other girls lap, she was playing one of those handheld game systems Moony had figured out how to ward against magic and was growling in annoyance. Coughing he caught both their attention as he nodded once,

"Ladies, shall we?" Both hopped up and soon flanked him as they headed for the door, he looked about a bit in confusion as he asked,

"No Iris?" Hermione shook her head in the negative,

"No she felt it was best to get to know her year mates better so she's doing her own thing for today," nodding in understanding he led the trio down to the Great Hall and there was only one word to describe the scene they walked into, pandemonium. There were aurors scattered about interviewing several students and there was a noticeably largish group of Slytherin's cordoned off from the rest looking indigent and a bit afraid, much to Harry's amusement an extra pale faced Malfoy was with them.

As they sat down Parvati and Lavender pulled an irritated Lilly away and forced her to sit with them, the looks on their faces stuck between giddy and horrified,

"Lilly did you hear?!" Staring at the girl Lilly had to begrudgingly accept as her friend she began making up a plate for a light breakfast as she replied,

"I hear many things Pav, but as my mother always said believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see," this earned confused looks from both girls and Lillith not for the first time wished the castle didn't track unforgivable curses. Lavender spoke up next ignoring the comment,

"A bunch of the students went to McGonagall with what you did last night, at first she was impressed about the patronus but when she realized what Harry had been getting at she demanded a trunk by trunk check of all houses. Dumbledore went along with it and had the house elves bring everyone's trunks through to be scanned for potions, and you won't believe what they found in a bunch of the Slytherin _boys_ trunks!" Lillith was contemplating whether or not rupturing her own ear drums would end her current suffering, deciding against it she went with a none committal grunt. Parvati picked up the thread without losing a beat,

"They had polyjuice potion keyed to, well, _you!_" Lilly was a damn good actor and timed it just right to spit a mouthful of juice across the table on Ron, it was the little things in life,

"Wha...what?! You mean they really were going around shagging random blokes looking like me!?" She caught both Hermione and Harry's knowing smirks at her antics, this was honestly becoming very amusing, she schooled her features into indignant disgust and shuddered, "Oh man that is so wrong." Both Lavandar and Parvati said,

"I know right?" at once, Lillith suppressed cringing at that, she succeeded, mostly. She spent most of the day observing the fallout of her scheme and the complete and utter collapse of Slytherin's social structure, at the end of it only a small group of prominent families remained unscathed. After dinner ended Theo Nott walked up to her shoulders squared and back straight, he handed her a torn piece of parchment and as he walked past her he smirked and muttered,

"Well Done." Opening the piece of parchment she immediately noticed it was the note she'd had Binky place in his potions kit, in her neat calligraphy was written three words

_'You Owe Me'_

Scribbled right below it was,

_'Indeed, well played'_

She grinned widely as she jammed the note into her pocket and began singing to herself,

"I ain't happy, I'm feel'in glad, I got sunshine, in a bag, I'm useless but not for long, the future, is com'in on, com'in on, com'in on...heheh..." Goddess damn it all, it was great being her.

The following days were filled with abject boredom, the Potter twins and Hermione all knew the course work already and without Quiditch to distract him Harry had taken to training Iris on the proper ways of dueling without their parents stopping him from showing her, proper near dark curses that would actually leave your enemy down for the count. When Lillith had caught him teaching their little sister the blood boiling curse one evening he froze in horror, when she grinned at him and gave him an appraising and much to his shock, _hungry _look she joined in throwing out pointers.

"Now remember the duration of the spell is directly related to how much power you dump into it, unlike the cruciatus it isn't an extended use spell but rather a single shot. So for instance if I wanted someone tailing me to fall to the ground and writhe about a bit but not do any real damage I'd only use the amount of magic I'd normally put in, oh I dunno, a lumos spell." Harry nodded quickly and continued where she left off,

"Now if you actually want it to be long term you have to really mean it as well, half hearted attempts are umm...well they tend to backfire, so shall we?" Iris who, for Harry's part amazed him by how accepting she was of these darker offensive spells nodded solemnly as Lillith conjured a rat and sent it scurrying, in seconds it was a twitching steaming heap. Both twins eyed their little sister with a bit of respect which caused the some what quesy look on her face to melt into a beaming smile, after their little training session was done the older siblings bade their sister fair well and remained in the abandoned classroom staring at each other. Eventually Lillith sighed and asked,

"How long have you been a Dark Wizard?" He didn't flinch once, he stared at her still and after a few moments he broke her gaze,

"Second year, remember when Filch's cat had been paralyzed? Well Hermione and I found a cursed journal that had been possessing Ginny into doing some rather crazy things, I began writing in it because I am a dumb impulsive Gryffindor at times." He turned back to his sister to see her nodding in agreement with an amused look on her face, rolling his eyes he continued, "Anyway, after a time my scar began bleeding, and well...something in it ruptured...it ended up a piece of Voldemort's soul was lodged in my head..."

Lilly gave him a concerned look at that but he continued, "It was trying to merge with the diary but it didn't work, actually caused the thing to catch fire, unfortunately the fragment went flying right back into my head...not sealed this time. I got into a tug of war match with the fragment and eventually it lost but not before leaving some of the bastard Riddle behind, mostly spells, but a few memories as well. Anyway, the rest of the year Hermione helped me sort it out and at that point we both started delving into gained knowledge. You?"

She stared at him a moment and broke out laughing, shaking her head her long raven hair swayed about her shoulders as she finally got out,

"And thus explains why Hermione began teaching me dark spells second year, what a bitch, hehe..." This earned a laugh from Harry as well, eventually he looked nervous as he scratched the back of his head slowly,

"So...are we ok, you won't tell anyone about this?" Giving him a knowing look she sauntered over and kissed his cheek causing him to blush, she turned and made for the door,

"I think you've already figured out I'm at the _very_ least a gray witch Harry. You keep my secret I'll keep yours my dear brother, after all we're twins, equals in every way and it's fitting that I'm there to walk at your side. See you later I'm gonna go make sure Iris made it back to the tower safe, love you." With that she left the room and closed the door behind her, Harry touched his cheek and grinned slowly,

"Equals...in every way..." The rest of that day saw a highly pleased Harry Potter walking about the castle whistling tunelessly, lost in thought.

* * *

**Lillith is a huge fan of Blur and Gorillaz and is deeply annoyed she won't get to experience them fully for a few more years, anyway hope you enjoy the build of their burgeoning relationship, as always, REVIEW!**


	7. Happy Birthday 'Mione

_**Oki few things, first off Viktor and Fleur WILL be the other champions, why? Because I tried to read three different GoF fics with OC champions and I found I didn't care about them at all, so Krum has to retake his final year due to a quiditch related hospital stay and Fleur is a mastery student (who is still engaged to Bill because I think they're cute, sue me). Neville is going to progressively become more important and Lillith's complete obliviousness to boys being attracted to her is going to be played for laughs, it ends up leading a rebellion against two dark lords does not in fact make you understand the minds of teenage males, who knew. Also Iris is still adorable, that is all.**_

* * *

It was an irritable Harry Potter who waited by the statue of the one eyed witch in the late evening hours, when he'd given Lillith the family cloak earlier that day he'd not realized she intended to leave Hogwarts and by the time she given him a wink and disappeared it'd been too late. So he'd rushed to his room for the map and followed her dot until she'd left the tunnel to Honeydukes, frustrated and worried about his wayward twin he'd cast a disillusionment on himself and was currently glaring at the map waiting for her return. Feeling like he was about to pull his hair out he started as her name appeared on the map, cancelling the disillusionment charm he leaned against the wall facing the statue while crossing his arms and openly glaring.

Once the secret passage opened he just stared at the entrance menacingly, she could stand there all evening he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and he was a master at spotting someone wearing the cloak at this point in his life. Eventually there was a sigh and the cloak was pulled away revealing the sheepishly grinning Lillith, she twirled the cloak into a bundle and cocked her hip to the side while pouting, Harry chose to ignore how cute he thought she looked at the moment.

"Lillith, when I said you could borrow the cloak I didn't intend for you to leave the school," Lillith rolled her eyes at this while sauntering forward, the statue behind her closing as she passed the threshold.

"Please Har-bear you know as well as I do that mischief follows our family, did you honestly think I'd have a solution to our 'Keeping Iris Safe' problem at the school?" Harry's glasses slid down his nose and his emerald gaze peered over them, Lillith really hoped he didn't notice the way that intense stare made her shudder.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did, since you know, we're trying to keep her safe _in the school_, where in the name of Morgana's knickers did you go anyway?" Snorting she nodded her head towards Gryffindor tower,

"Come on mister responsible prefect, we'll talk in the dorms, honestly I'm shocked Hermione isn't with you," taking position beside Lillith as she began moving he rubbed the back of his neck while giving her a bit of a chagrined smile, the boyish innocence of it was sweet.

"Yeah, she said, and I quote 'If my two idiot best friends are going to attempt to get themselves in trouble and one of them is going to shirk their responsibilities to be over protective of the other than _someone_ has to make the nightly rounds.' I do believe she was slightly irked," He paused a moment while cocking his head to the side causing his shoulder length hair to become even more disheveled. "Although to be honest I think she's hoping Malfoy tries to corner her, she's been looking forward to putting him in his place for awhile now."

Lillith snickered at that while hooking her arm through his and dropping her head to his shoulder, it immediately reminded him of their time on the island and the...lack of clothing they'd been wearing. Suddenly very, _very_ glad he was wearing a billowing robe at the moment he luckily didn't need to worry about her noticing his sudden blush since the same thoughts were rolling through his twins head. Ignorance as they say is bliss and neither wanted to confront the hippogriff in the room that seemed to be growing steadily larger the more they interacted.

"Speaking of 'Mione I grabbed her a present for her birthday, I think you should give it to her," he was touched by this but was also a bit confused,

"Why have me give her your gift?" She laughed a bit, she'd done that a lot since this summer, her laughter use to be nasally and irritating, now it almost sounded like chiming bells,

"It's from both of us, and when she sees what it is well, you might be getting laid tonight," Harry chocked on his breath and went Weasley scarlet while Lillith laughed at her twins expense. "Oh don't be such a prude Har-bear, or are you saving yourself for someone special?" Not really thinking it over he met her eyes and quietly asked,

"What if I am?" Not at all expecting that answer nor its potential implications Lillith chose to simply shrug,

"Then you're a strong willed man, I hope whoever you fancy is worth the trouble," he snorted at this as they approached the portrait entrance,

"If you'd asked me last year I would have not even considered, now, I don't know what to think," as she gave the password and began walking up the stairs after the portrait swung open she turned to look over her shoulder throwing him a cheeky grin.

"_That_ dear brother is called hormones, the most insidious enemy of all teenagers worldwide," letting out a light chuckle he followed her into the common room. This late at night there was no one around aside from one shadowed figure sitting in the overstuffed chair by the hearth, legs folded beneath her open tome in her lap, the bushy hair all that could be seen of the head resting on her chest. Suppressing the urge to giggle Lillith put a finger to her lips and Harry nodded as he smirked at their mutual friend, sneaking up on her Lilly began feathering her fingers down the brunettes exposed arms.

"Ehhh...stop it Crooks...feed you in the morn'in..." Openly chuckling now the twins took to their knees before the chair and just stared at Hermione who, finally sensing the presence before her snapped her head up. The look on her pale face was initially annoyance, then recognizing who it was she threw the pair a fond smile, "Oh good you're back, what time is it?" Lillith lifted her left arm to look at the dainty watch Moony had gotten her for her birthday before responding.

"Two in the morning, happy birthday 'Mione!" Hermione's eyebrows shot up before she snorted and batted her friend on the head gently,

"Thank you, but couldn't you prats wait till later?" Harry grinned at her openly while Lillith discretely handed him a small ring box, secretly hoping this wasn't going to shoot him in the foot he brought the blue wrapped box up to his friends eyes.

"Nope, happy birthday to my bestest friend, this is from both of us, enjoy!" Eyebrows shooting up Hermione shot Lillith a curious look before shrugging and thanking them, Hermione being who she was gently unwrapped the paper and put it to the side causing the twins to roll their eyes. Somethings as they say, never change, secretly Lillith was pleased some of the formal bossy know-it-all was still in the jaded warrior Lady even after years of isolation and pretending to be a teenager all over again. Cracking the box open she was bathed in a sapphire light as she gasped, looking up sharply she quickly asked,

"How did you get this? I tried years ago but the Goblins said Muggle-Borns had no right to it regardless of blood," smiling coyly Lillith snaked her arm around Harry's waist and pulled him in close.

"It's thanks to Harry actually, see I went to Gringott's to get my ring and as you know the founders vaults are interconnected and the heirs can access all four for the sole purpose of collecting the head of house rings. So I put the cloak on, snuck over while the goblins who escorted me down napped and broke into the Ravenclaw vault, simple really." Harry's eyes widened at his sisters implications as a grinning Hermione pulled out a bronze ring in the shape of an eagle in flight, its wingtips curling around to meet forming a perfect circle. The sapphire grasped in its claws and recessed in it's eyes glowed faintly until Hermione slid it on her right hand.

There was a silent, powerful pulse that shot throughout the school, Harry shuddered slightly as he saw the radiant blue glow coming from his best friends eyes, the look of pure ecstasy spreading across her face caused certain lower areas of his body to become uncomfortably snug. As the light faded Lillith stood and Harry followed her lead on impulse, she curtsied formally as she chirped out,

"May I present the Lady Hermione Jean Granger-Ravenclaw, the last true heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw, long may she hold the title," Harry was bug eyed at this before he began chuckling as he leaned down and pulled the surprised brunette into a tight hug.

"Hermione this is amazing! Of all the founders of course you'd be Ravenclaw's, but how?" Hermione was still looking a bit flushed after being imbued with the family magics but her now normally colored chocolate brown eyes expressed mischievous mirth.

"I took the blood test at Gringotts at the end of our first year but the Goblins wouldn't let me claim the title due to a recent ministry law, I'd have to wait till I was of age and had a "Proper" Pure-Blood countersign it. Ends up I'm descended from a squib on my mothers side, something like my great-great-great-great-grandmother or the like." With that she threw an expectant look at Lillith who gave the pair a cheeky grin before showing off her ring finger, Harry balked at the twin silver snakes intertwined into a double-helix pattern. In between their open jaws sat an emerald with a stylized 'S' glowing in the center, both the snakes shared the Ravenclaw eagles gemstone eyes.

"Bloody hell you're the Heiress of Slytherin?" He asked in awe, Lillith pecked the tip of his nose while her green eyes scintillated in amusement,

"Quite right, mum's side of the family, it ends up either of us could have laid claim to it but I figured since you get the Potter titles and had that nonsense second year you'd not mind me taking up the mantle." Snorting he returned the gesture and Hermione smirked noticing both were blushing at the actions, one thing the bushy haired brunette had picked up from her long deceased boyfriend from another world, Blaise, was a love for people watching, and her two best friends were hilarious to observe.

"I don't mind at all, aside from feeling a bit dirty being related to the man that murdered our Grandparents I think it's brilliant you're the new Lady Slytherin, but how exactly does this help protect Iris?" They were interrupted by a male voice from the boys dormitory stairwell,

"Simple Harry, they're now connected to the school wards, they can't directly control them since they've not reached their age of majority but they can key in a warning system connected to specific students." The trio turned to see Neville Longbottem walk out from the shadows in his pajamas, a glass of warm milk in his hands, he blushed a bit when he saw the incredulous and concerned looks on the other three Gryffindors faces. "I-I err...I re-read about it i-in 'Hogwarts A History' after Lillith told m-me I was the Heir to Gryffindor," he stammered out.

This revelation made Harry groan, Hermione grin, and Lillith snort, waving the boy over Harry met his eyes evenly, the dirty blonde hair that Neville had been growing out framing his round face made him look incredibly innocent.

"Well done mate, no need to be nervous but could you errr..." Neville gave Harry an equally nervous smile as he cut in,

"Keep it to myself? Sure no problem, I know you guys only took the heads of house to protect your family, and to be blunt after knowing Hermione four years and the stunt Lillith pulled I'm not shocked at all that either of you are descended from who you are." The girls flashed him appreciative smiles that caused him to blush while Harry offered his hand to Neville who accepted the shake in surprise,

"Brilliant my friend, brilliant, thank you," glancing down he noticed the gold band with a roaring lion in the center, a glittering ruby held in it's open jaws while its eyes glowed fiery red. Eyes widening he met Neville's now slightly bemused gaze,

"Lets just say the girls weren't the only ones who had people they wanted to keep safe, keep it quiet?" The three friends grinned at Neville and nodded, Lillith stretched catlike with a sigh and both Neville and Harry had to avert their eyes to not stare at the now very taut jumper, relaxing and grumbling to herself she turned and walked to the dorms.

"I'm hitting the sack, I promised Iris I'd take her running with me in the morning and you know how she can get, get some sleep you lot, oh Nev if you wanna join us we're getting up at six thirty, nighters all." Harry's gaze followed her retreating form a moment before he felt a yawn overtake him, scratching his hair he suddenly realized how exhausted he was before turning back to Neville and Hermione,

"Yeah I'm done too, you coming Nev?" The young man lifted his half full glass and smiled,

"Soon as I'm done with my little snack," Harry nodded as he walked away already loosening his tie, as his steps receded into the distance Neville shot Hermione a wry grin,

"Do you think either realize what the others thinking?" The petite brunette snorted as she slipped a scrap of parchment in her book and gently closed it, standing while cracking her back and groaning she met his eyes returning the grin.

"Oh please they're Potters, it's going to be...interesting to see how this unfolds," Neville shook his head then downed the rest of his milk in one pull,

"I wonder if they realize how different they are around each other, I mean I share a room with the bloke so its obvious to me, but still..." Hermione shrugged as she jammed the book into her bag and threw it over her shoulder.

"When they figure it out they'll probably have a minor meltdown, while incest isn't exactly shocking in our world siblings...eh...well at least there's precedents..." Neville shrugged as he pulled Hermione into a loose hug, they'd grown closer over the past few weeks and he felt no shame in it.

"I see no real issue in it honestly but I'm a Pure-Blood, kind of goes with the territory, anyway see you and the rest at breakfast?" Hermione nodded as she broke the embrace and headed for the stairs, she was going to be picking on Lillith about her relationship with her twin for the foreseeable future, smirking she muttered,

"It's the little things in life."

* * *

Bellatrix Lupin was in short mildly insane, she knew this, her husband Remus knew this as did her large family, and so did the Headmaster, that being said while others toed the line between genius and madness as if a tightrope she giggled while skipping down it as fast as humanly possible. It was this mindset that gave her rather brilliant ideas for her and Lily's Unspeakable research as well as what lead to her occasionally violating the laws of the universe in a perverse attempt to perform a vivisection on the space time continuum. On a much less grander scale (but just as equally important in her opinion) her slightly twisted mind came up with ideas that would benefit many while also sating her inate desire to learn about and/or destroy things, and so that's how the DADA professor found herself before Dumbledore and McGonagall explaining her idea.

"So as you're aware the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in a few days on the twenty-ninth, what you may not realize is that I've been teaching the fourth years up proper dueling etiquette and tactics, many of them are actually near minor league levels of skill." McGonagall sipped her tea and Dumbledore popped a lemon drop in his mouth as he motioned for the ravenette to continue, "Well since there is a day between the choosing of the champions and the other schools arrivals I was thinking we could hold a dueling competition on the Quiditch pitch. An exposition of our students skill if you will, I think it would be a lovely way to show off what they've learned."

Both older professors seemed to be mulling it over while they exchanged glances, Dumbledore looked contemplative a moment before responding,

"I see, and why do you find this is necessary?" Bellatrix actually rolled her lilac eyes and snorted much to McGonagall's annoyance and Dumbledore's amusement,

"Because I've reviewed the history of this tournament, those schools are going to show up with flashy choreographed magic trying to psych our school and each other out, since we can't have an introduction like that having our guests watch our best duelists taking each other on will have a similar effect." McGonagall looked contemplative before she began nodding turning to Dumbledore,

"I actually rather like the idea Albus, while the second challenge of the tournament is itself a duel there's no harm in showing off a bit, plus I have a few favorites I'd like to see in action myself, we could have Filius act as the master of the competition, you know how much he misses the glory days." Dumbledore hummed to himself a bit then smiled,

"I think it is a wonderful idea Professor Lupin, if I may make a suggestion meet with the other professors to gather a pool of students you think would do well and have a preliminary challenge before the arrival of our fellow schools, that way those we know who are clearly capable are in the running." The unspoken 'And we don't waste our time or embarrassment on fools' was clearly heard, Bellatrix grinned widely as her lilac eyes sparked in excitement,

"Excellent idea Headmaster, if you don't mind I'd like to get started, this will be ever so much fun!" Smiling and nodding his dismissal the slightly barmy witch left the office, the old friends and co-workers sat in silence for a time before Minerva spoke up,

"Albus what's the real reason you agreed to this? I know you don't really approve of dueling after that fool Lockhart," the ancient Headmaster sighed as he summoned a bottle of scotch and a pair of decanters, pouring a wee dram for the both of them they clicked their glasses together as they indulged in the aged liquor. Sighing as he smacked his lips Albus replied,

"It's the Potter twins, they hold themselves back in class, Lillith pulled the wool over everyone's eyes for four years and I know they're tutoring their little sister in at least grey offensive spells, they both remind me very much of my greatest failure but their love for their family stays my hand. To be blunt Minerva, they're enigmas and I cannot figure them out, one thing I do know about both of them is they are fiercely competitive and do not hold back when proving themselves, especially now that there are no longer masks of mediocrity gumming up the mess." Finishing his glass he sighed lightly before pushing himself out of the high backed swivel chair, a gift from Lily and James last Yule that he greatly appreciated,

"I want to observe them when their shields are down, when they're fighting equal opponents, I need to know if they're going Dark or if I'm just a paranoid old man," Minerva sighed as she stood to follow her old friend,

"And if they are?" She asked with trepidation, he smiled congenially at that,

"Well, we still celebrate the greatest Dark Lord of all time due to the good he did, so long as they follow in Merlin's footsteps and don't indulge in the evil that so many think goes hand in hand with the dark well...that is our duty as their teachers is it not? To teach them restraint?" Minerva sighed and nodded at that feeling a slight pang of despair, teaching the children of James Potter restraint was in on itself a full time job, but really Hogwarts would be so...boring without these little hiccups.

* * *

Iris fidgeted with her robes slightly as she waited with the rest of the schools students on the lawns outside of Hogwarts, Harry and Lillith both smiled down at the small girl they'd kidnapped from the first year section of the procession as they placed a comforting hand on either of her shoulders. Pausing the redhead looked up to see two sets of twinkling emeralds looking down at her with affection,

"No need to be nervous Little Flower, this is just the peacock strutting part of the tournament," Harry quipped with a light drawl emulating Malfoy, that earned him a nervous giggle from his little sister as Lillith rolled her eyes.

"Really love it's just going to be a gaggle of overly perfumed French girls dancing and twirling around while summoning butterflies and other girly shite and a bunch of surly hungover blokes that reek of sweat and stale ale while they strut around trying to prove how manly they are." Hermione and Ron leaned in to throw in their two knuts,

"Truthfully the only thing to look forward to is their modes of transportation, I have it on good authority that the Beauxbaton carriage is drawn by a flight of Abraxan and that Durmstrang how a submersible boat," Iris scowled at that.

"You mean a submarine?" Ron looked confused but Hermione just chuckled,

"No littlest one, like a pirate ship that goes underwater but comes back up," Iris raised a single crimson brow at this revelation,

"That's stupid, why would anyone do that?" The twins burst out laughing at this earning a scowl from their head of house so they quickly reigned it in, Ron spoke up in the silence next.

"I hear Viktor Krum is coming along this year, bet he'll be the one selected for Durmstrang," Hermione and Lillith exchanged glances at this and turned to the ginger young man,

"I thought he'd be graduated by now?" Lillith said slowly trying not to sound confused, Ron shook his head sadly at this while sighing wistfully,

"No after the Quiditch world cup last year a rival seeker sabotaged his broom, he was in the hospital most of last years school terms so he had to retake his last year, lucky him I suppose he gets to compete in the Triwizard tournament because of it." Lillith snorted at that while muttering "Typical." Before anything else could be said Harry spotted something on the horizon, catching Iris's attention he pointed at the steadily growing dot and soon she gasped in awe seeing the massive flying horses coming in for a landing as they gently pulled a blue carriage behind them.

"Beautiful..." she muttered as only a little girl could when she sees anything equestrienne related, Lillith ruffled her sisters hair affectionately and tried to suppress her desire to sneer at the prancing girls in their light blue silks as they made their way towards the castle, Ron was drooling a bit as were most of the other boys, Harry glanced about and signed in annoyance.

"I think there's a Veela in there somewhere," Lillith wouldn't be shocked, if Viktor was here why not Fleur? Noticing Harry's lack of reaction she was going to poke fun but Hermione beat her to the punch,

"Notice you're not seeming all that interested Harry, don't tell me you're hiding some deep dark interest in Malfoy," Harry scowled at his friends impish smile while he responded through gritted teeth,

"No dear 'Mione I just have my heart set on other girls, I don't need a sirens call to draw my attention," suitibly impressed and mildly jealous of whoever could center her twin like that Lillith was snapped from her thoughts as Ron shook his head clear then looked confused a moment before saying anything.

"Were those girls wearing light silks?" His friends turned to him while nodding, he scoffed a bit while giving them a rueful grin, "Blimey, someone should have told 'em they were going to be staying in _Scotland_ over the winter, hope they're good at warming charms." Lillith actually paused at that, Harry threw her a wry smirk as he raised his eyebrows up and down,

"Ah the victims of fashion, the sacrifices one makes to look pretty," the surrounding party let out various sounds of amusement at Lavender and Parvati's often used saying. There was a great splash from the lake and all turned to see the massive Durmstrang vessel emerge from the waters surface, Iris let out an unimpressed noise as it finished its rise and bobbed up and down.

"Yeah, just as stupid as I thought it would be," she let out a sound similar to startled cat as Harry affectionatly tweaked her nose, he found it amusing that both his sisters reacted the same to that. The Durmstrang boys strutted by swinging around staves that sparked as they struck the ground while a few of them performed advanced fire spells, none of the Potters were impressed, the twins could do things ten times more powerful and Iris had seen much of it so these smelly boys in the ugly furs couldn't hold a light to her siblings prowess. As the foreign schools all entered the castle the Hogwarts students began filing in behind them, it wasn't long before they'd settled at their tables; Lillith ignored most of what was going on since for the most part it was identical to her original fourth year. One definite change though was Krum standing up from the Slytherin table as Malfoy kept pestering him and made his way to the Gryffindors, he glanced at the empty space beside Lillith and asked,

"I am sorry to disturb your meal, I vas vondering if I could please sit here," raising her perfectly plucked brows Lillith nodded once,

"But of course, and you are?" Ron looked flabbergasted but Lillith knew what she was doing, Viktor actually looked like he released a massive amount of tension and gave her wane smile obviously glad she wasn't a fan girl,

"I am Viktor Krum, but you may call me Viktor if you wish," he said as he plopped down at her side, Hermione covered her growing smile with her goblet as she saw Harry's eyes narrow at the new arrival, extending her free hand Lillith shook Krum's congenially.

"Lillith Potter, just call me Lilly, this is my twin brother Hadrian but he goes by Harry, the cute as a button redhead," Iris scowled at this, "is my little sister Iris, the bushy haired beauty is my best friend Hermione and the ginger garbage disposal is Harry's best mate Ron." Ron for his part tried to sound indignant but with a mouth full of food it was a bit difficult, Harry gave the older man a curt nod while Iris waved at him nervously, Hermione just raised her held goblet of juice in greeting.

"It is pleasant to meet you Lilly, Harry, Iris, Ron, and Her..Her-mi-oon-ee," he tried to pronounce her name and blushed a bit causing Hermione to laugh, this was obviously bringing some good memories back for the mentally older woman,

"Just call me 'Mione Viktor if it makes it easier, My-Own-Eee," he smiled at that thankfully,

"Of course Mi-on-ee, I hope you all do not mind my sitting vith you, your schoolmates in green are quite..." Harry glanced up and met Malfoy's hateful scowl from across the room, discreetly giving the blonde the finger while smirking at him he nearly missed Lillith's response.

"It's the Pure-Blood mindset, they think that since their parents are wealthy they can worm their way in with the rich and famous, and since most of them pay for their high marks in school they really have nothing to talk about outside of fawning over celebrities or talking about their family money. The blonde you were talking to? If you're ever around him when he gets in a row with someone I guarantee you'll hear some variant of 'When my father hears about this'. Viktor snorted at that,

"Children," Lillith tilted her goblet towards him as she smirked,

"Quite, it looks like Rasputin is glowering at ya Vikky," much to well...everyone's surprise Viktor didn't respond to the nickname negatively and he seemed to know exactly who she was referring to as he rolled his eyes and turned to see his Headmaster staring at him with angry dark eyes.

"I'm a legal adult but the man still acts like I am a vet behind the ears first year, the only reason I agreed to this tournament vas because my little brother begged me, I...he has a bit of a hero vorship problem and as an older sibling..." Lilly and Harry both snorted and glanced at Iris, Viktor noticed this and gave them a knowing smile. "Ah, I see you understand, vell, this vas a very enjoyable meal, perhaps I may join you again tomorrow for breakfast?" He was addressing the entire table but staring at Lilly, she shrugged and nodded,

"Sure Vikky shouldn't be a problem, take care now and watch out for Peeves, he's our resident arsehole poltergeist," bowing slightly he took Lilly's hand and kissed it before excusing himself, turning back to her treacle tart and preparing to destroy it like she had so many of its brethren she paused realizing most of Gryffindor was staring at her. "What?" She asked in honest confusion, Harry and Ron were scowling at her, Hermione was smiling, Iris looked confused, and Neville down the way was shaking his head chuckling, huffing to herself she quietly muttered "Whatever," and finished her dessert.

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**Next up, the duel between the twins mediated by Flitwick and Bellatrix, the Goblet of Fire, and the first task, hope you all enjoy the way the relationships and dramas are beginning to unfold, next update will be much sooner now that I'm over the writers block, as always PLEASE REVIEW! **

**No, Seriously, I get more than fifteen individual reviews that say more than "Great Story Write More" and give me some honest feedback I'll try to have the next chapter up in the next few days rather than the next month. Anyway, toodles!**


	8. If You Want Peace, Prepare for War

**Multiple rewrites due to lost material, bitch at the end of the chapter, hope you all don't hate this, I need coffee just read and review, take care.**

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Harry had woken up a bit later than usual and when he'd entered the common room he'd found it empty, not surprising honestly everyone including his friends would be itching to get their meals out of the way to watch today's spectacle. The dueling preliminaries had taken place with next to no fanfare, all done within their respective houses until four duelists from each participating year had been chosen. It was no real surprise that the Gryffindor fifth years had boiled down to himself, his twin, and Hermione, the shocker had been Neville Longbottom rounding out their fourth participant.

When he'd taken Seamus out with a banisher/disarmer/stunner combo he'd just shrugged at the dumbstruck crowd and said he'd spent enough time around Hermione to know how to fight fast and dirty; both the Potter and Weasely twins had to suppress their knowing grins as several older girls gave the blushing boy speculative looks.

His twin, Harry sighed at that and the myriad of emotions that had been surrounding the playfully chaotic young woman since the summer hols and what they meant for the near future, and really for his damn sanity. He mulled over his attitude towards Lillith during last nights feast and was at a loss as to what to think; on one hand he had absolutely no right to be jealous of Viktor Krum being friendly with Lillith, on the other he wanted to stab him in the eye with a fork.

What made it more confusing was the Bulgarian had been downright gentlemanly, perhaps that was part of the problem though; he could have written off the interaction as nothing if he'd been a self centered prat like most celebrities but he'd seemed almost...happy that Lillith didn't acknowledge his stardom. Harry winced at that, it was a feeling he knew far too well, this 'Boy-Who-Lived shite was a curse that guaranteed he'd never be treated normally by the public at large, he resolved to cut the Bulgarian some slack as he rationalized that Krum was just happy to meet someone who treated him like he was human.

Entering the Great Hall Harry felt his heart skip a beat when he heard his sisters musical laughter, glancing to the Gryffindor table he felt his newly found resolve crumbling immediately seeing her grinning at something Viktor had said. Gritting his teeth he was too busy glaring at his sibling to notice the small figure in front of him until he bumped into her causing her to squeak and fall over. Looking down he was mortified at seeing a small girl in a Beauxbaton uniform sprawled out on the floor who could be no older than Iris, the older witch beside the girl glared at Harry as she began speaking in rapid fire French.

Apologizing quickly he offered his hand to the small girl who looked up at him in confusion, she glanced up at his forehead and her eyes widened as she blushed profusely, resisting the urge grimace he pulled her up while scooping up her fallen hat with his free hand. Placing it in the still blushing blondes hands he turned to the older of the pair who, judging by their similar hair color and looks, was her sister. She was glaring at him and all he could do was give her a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his head,

"I'm so sorry I was distracted and wasn't watching where I was going, please take no offense I didn't mean to inconvenience you," bowing lightly to both witches he gave them his dads patented 'I'm too damn pretty for you to stay mad at me' smile as he turned the Marauder charm up to eleven. "Allow me to introduce myself, my names Hadrian Potter, but please just call me Harry, and you are?" The older girl, well woman really gave him a cool look and Harry felt a weird feeling brush past his mind but he shrugged it off as the smaller girl began hopping up and down while tugging the taller witches sleeve.

Harry's French was shit much to Sirius and Bellatrix's lament, he just couldn't get his head around the language, but he knew enough to catch, "It's him," "handsome," and a few other random words. Harry looked about and realized they'd made a bit of a scene by the amount of looks they were getting, he felt a single brow raise in a very Malfoy-esqe manner as he realized most of the boys in the surrounding tables looked like they'd been lobotomized. Shooting his gaze to the Gryffindor table he saw that Ron's eyes were rolled into the back of his head and he was drooling, half chewed food falling out of his mouth. Grimacing at that spectacle he glanced to Neville who just looked confused and sleepy while Viktor was rubbing his temples as if to ward off a migraine.

It hit him a moment later that this woman was the Veela he'd sensed yesterday, and that she was giving him a full blast of her allure for knocking over her obviously smitten kid sister, honestly more amused than not he gave her a cocky grin as he drawled out.

"If you're trying to get me in bed my dear you only need to ask, no need to use your wiles on me," she blanched and suddenly the allure dropped and her dark blue eyes widened in surprise,

"You, you are resistant to ze allure? How?" Harry shrugged and threw her another grin,

"Clean living? Look Miss...?" She gave him an appraising stare for a moment before nodding slowly,

"I am Fleur Delacour, this is my little sister Gabrielle, I'm currently taking my rune mastery lessons from Madam Maxime, andsince she is 'ere for ze tournament, well," she trailed off there and shrugged. Harry nodded his understanding and was saved a response when his stomach growled, both blondes gave him amused looks as he blushed a bit,

"Err, well it was nice to meet you two and I'm sorry for running into you Gabrielle, hopefully our next meeting will be under less embarrassing circumstances," the little girl rambled something in moonspeak while she smiled and waved her goodbye as her sister gave him a firm nod and led her away. Sighing he approached the Gryffindor table and sat between Ron and Hermione while looking across to his very amused twin sister,

"So Har-bear double date with the Veela sisters? You don't waste time do you?" Meeting her mirthful gaze with as much dignity as he could muster he began piling food on his plate without really paying attention to what he was grabbing.

"I have no idea what you are on about dear sister, hello Hermione, Ron, Vikky," rather then annoying her for using her nickname for the Bulgarian Lillith's smile became less mocking and more outright entertained as she glanced to the now glowering man in question.

"Good morning...Har-bear," the foreign seeker drawled out, Harry scowled at the knowing smirk the older man was now sporting, he than noticed both Lillith and Hermione rolling their eyes and mouthing 'boys' at the same time. Harry opened his mouth to retort when Hermione reached over and jammed a thick slice of buttered toast in the opening while smacking his jaw shut, mouth now full of food he shot a glare at his best friend who just smirked that coy little smirk of hers.

"You can practice your neanderthalic posturing in the dueling ring, you only have five minutes to finish eating before breakfast is over and we all have to get to the pitch so do get your fill." Suitably chastised Harry began eating as quickly and civilly as he could while he resisted the urge to hex the slightly smug smile off the Drumstrang student across from him. Once finished Viktor said his goodbyes as he stood and kissed Lillith's hand once again, throwing him a cheeky grin her emerald eyes swimming with so much open affection that Harry had to force his jaw to unclench to stop gritting his teeth. Relaxing the tension in his clenched fists he inwardly seethed, what the hell was wrong with him?

Hermione drew him from his thoughts as she stood and pulled him up, she shot Ron a look of absolute disgust as she looked around Harry and shook her head realizing the ginger was still stuffing his face.

"Come on, we have to get changed unless you intend to duel in your school robes," both Potter's grimaced at that as they followed her back to the tower to change into combat clothes. Harry reflected that they should have done that before breakfast but alas force of habit was hard to break, entering his dorm he stripped to his boxers and pulled out a pair of charcoal grey BDU cargo pants from his trunk. Throwing the article of clothing on his bed he pulled on a black tank top and a heavy long sleeved shirt cut and colored in the same style as the pants, grabbing said pants off the bed he slid them on while tucking the shirts into it.

Pulling a thin leather belt through the loops he tightened it quickly while grabbing and shrugging on a much thicker nylon one with a heavy duty plastic buckle and several pouches off to the sides as well as an empty pistol holster. He sincerely doubted he'd be allowed to use the various grenades, poison gas potions, and throwing knives stored in it much less his Sig P226 but having them was part of the training he'd undergone since he was seven so unless otherwise told not to he'd bring them with for nostalgia's sake if nothing else.

Pulling a pair of heavy black boots out of the trunk he slid them on while stuffing the pant cuffs into them, after tightening the laces he stretched a bit to make sure he had plenty of mobility, satisfied he plucked the dual tone 9mm from its case and slapped it into the thigh holster after making sure it was loaded. Double checking that both his wand and knife holsters were firmly secured around his wrists he approached the mirror and stared at the young man in the reflection.

Gone was the stern but friendly Prefect, the playful seeker, and dutiful brother, the man in the reflection was a soldier, trained by Potters, Blacks, and Lupins for nearly a decade to do one thing; survive. Grabbing the heavy dark brown dragonhide duster from the bottom of his trunk he slide it on and made for the stairs, reaching into the jackets pockets he pulled out a pair of black fingerless gloves sliding them on while flexing his hands. As he entered the common room the growing gathering of students paused and stared at the Boy-Who-Lived in open shock, he just gave them a grim smile and a curt nod as he leaned against the wall to wait for his sister and friend.

The wait wasn't long which was new for the Potter heir, not that he'd complain about it mind; Hermione came down first and she caught quite a few looks, she was wearing a skin tight dark green dragon hide body suit with knee high black boots and a light black denim jacket festooned with pockets. A pair of criss-crossed brown leather belts hung from her slim waist held in place with a thick buckle where they met, the one resting on her right hip held her Glock 18, the one on her left various pouches undoubtedly filled with items of potential destruction.

Glancing up and down her lithe form he saw well over a dozen knives stashed about her as well as a massive kukri at the small of her back, he couldn't help but grin at that damn thing, was almost bigger than she was but after the troll incident she'd become very fond of edged weapons, the more sinister looking the better. Her bushy hair was pulled into a tight braid that hung down her back and she was twirling her wand in her gloved hands, she looked about the room, the mirrored rectangular framed sunglasses hiding her chocolate brown eyes until she found Harry.

Grinning she strutted forward and Harry for the life of him felt like he was watching a pirate queen rather than a fifth year Prefect, on that note he looked like a muggle action figure so he really had no room to judge. Taking her place beside her best friend she threw him a knowing smirk as she braced a foot against the wall,

"Haven't seen you go full commando like that since summer of third year, looks better on you now that you don't resemble a little boy playing dress up as he's casting killing curses at a fat rat man," Harry shot her a look and muttered,

"You're a bitch," in a deadpan tone, Hermione 'Mmhmm'd' once as she glanced up the stairs to see Lillith descend from the girls dorms, Harry could only nod in approval over her choice of attire. She was wearing similar BDU's to his own but they were cut to her form rather then being slightly loose, she wore a pair of black boots and knee pads that looked to be a mixture of magical and mundane material. Her ensemble ended with a knee length black and red dragon hide jacket over which she'd added a pair of elbow pads similar to the ones on her knees, he couldn't get a good luck at what hung off her belts but he could only assume that whatever her gear, it was amusingly destructive.

As she approached Harry and Hermione the pair kicked off their wall and met her halfway, one of the older muggleborns muttered,

"Bloody hell they look soldiers or mercenaries," the trio could only silently agree to that, when you grew up in both the magical and muggle world, you learned to find that special balance point between intimidating and practical. Harry smiled to the girls as Lillith absently began pulling her long hair into a messy bun,

"Shall we?" They nodded and followed him out of the tower entrance, the shear amount of gawking stares they received as they made their way to the pitch was going to feed the rumor mills for months. As they walked out the gates Hermione paused midstep seeing the spectator stands absolutely packed with students from all three schools, in fact it seemed several layers of bleachers had been added similar to what had been at the Quiditch World Cup. The brunette stared at the roaring crowds in amazement as she quietly asked,

"Is this what it's like for you, when you're playing Quiditch?" Both Harry and Lilly smiled as they nodded, Harry turned to Herimione and leaned down to whisper into her ear,

"It's better, wait till they all start cheering your name," nodding mutely she began moving again while still staring up at the crowds, as they entered the area off to the side of the pitch intended for the fifth year duelists the trio sat on the offered benches and waited. Harry crossed his arms and looked about the dueling ring, it was elevated and took up roughly a quarter of the pitch, rather than a traditional rectangular setup this one was circular. He was curious as to why and whispered such to Hermione who pointed out the runestones surrounding the base,

"See those? It'll form a heavy defense net around the ring so stray spells don't go flying off into the crowd, a circle is magically stronger than a square and I would surmise that the professors decided to go for substance over style in the name of safety." Harry could only 'huh' at that while Lillith muttered,

"About goddamn time they started protecting the students, only took them five years..." Harry had nothing to add to that since he agreed whole heartedly. About twenty minutes later Harry heard a sharp whistle behind him, turning he scanned the crowd in one of the lower boxes until he saw his cheerfully waving mom and dad, Iris was sitting between them smiling widely, he saw Moony and Padfoot grinning at him from the aisle behind the three Potters. Waving in return he reached around Hermione to tap Lillith's shoulder, catching her eye he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and she turned and returned the enthusiastic smiles and waves from their family.

Noticing movement up in the Dueling Ring he saw Aunt Bella and Professor Flitwick cast a few spells, a massive crystal sphere formed about the arena and after Flitwick finished a rather elaborate series of wand movements the sphere crackled and suddenly displayed the ring for all to see. There was a cheer of approval as the diminutive professor blushed and bowed, he walked off to the side as Aunt Bella cast a sonorus,

"Ladies, Gentleman, and all those in between, welcome my lovelies, this exhibition will be between the fourth through seventh years, eight duels per year and each one chosen by random draw, when their are two remaining duelists for the year in question they will step aside for the next. Once it has been reduced to eight duelists in total we'll repeat the process, now, let us begin!"

As the fourth years were being drawn up Hermione stood and motioned for her friends and the recently arrived Neville to stand as she transfigured the uncomfortable bench into a large plush couch, smirking the quartet made themselves comfortable. Neville stared at the other three a moment than just smiled and turned away, Lillith gave him a questioning look and he shrugged,

"Nothing its just that you three look like you're just waiting for someone to 'Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war,' but I decided I may sleep better not knowing your reasoning." The twins snorted in amusement at that while Hermione gave him an appraising look,

"You've read Shakespeare?" He gave her a slightly offended glare before stating,

"Come now Hermione, I may be a Pure-Blood but I'm not uncultured thank you very much," they all laughed at that as the first duel began, honestly none of them really paid attention aside for Ginny and Luna's not really knowing any of the younger years aside from Colin who was felled by the dreamy eyed blonde in the second round. In the end Ginny and Luna were destined for the finals, Harry was rather proud of them for that, they didn't take to the darker spells as well as some of their other friends but they were still respectable.

As the fifth year duels were organized Neville was chosen to go first against Terry Boot of Ravenclaw, the round faced Gryffindor did respectably but after five minutes the patient Ravenclaw managed to snare him in a cleverly disguised quicksand trap. As the duel ended and Neville was freed the Longbottom scion just grinned and shook the victors hand good naturedly, as he walked down the ramp a familiar rage overtook Harry as he heard a most hated voice.

"Way to go Fatbottom, figures a squib like you would be first to go," Neville paused, clenched his fists and turned to address the smirking visage of Draco Malfoy, rather than blush, sputter, or even yell he just stared at the blonde a moment then gave him a cold smile.

"I may have lost, but at least I fought with dignity and earned my chance to try, rather than have my daddy pull strings to get me here," not waiting for a response Neville turned and walked away. Lillith began chuckling while muttering,

"Damn, gonna need a cold fire potion for that burn," before Malfoy could respond he was called for the next match against Hannah Abbot of Hufflepuff, sneering he stomped off leaving the three remaining Gryffindors to observe his duel. It was an unfortunately one sided fight, Hannah was a good duelist but she specialized in disabling while not injuring while Draco had absolutely no such compunctions, she was defeated and sobbing in agony covered in blood and boils two minutes later. As she was escorted off the raised ring Draco strutted back to his waiting bench superior smirk firmly in place, Hermione began growling low in her throat and both Potters grabbed a hand and squeezed it gently to calm her down.

After Susan Bones completely annihilated Padma Patil both Lillith and Hermione's lots were drawn, they gasped at that while exchanging glances, Harry clearly heard Lillith stating in a panicked tone,

"Mione if you and I go all out there's a good fucking chance we'll take out half the goddamn school!" Raising his brows at that the brunette replied quickly,

"Language Lilly, and obviously we can't go all out, nothing above third tier, no explosion spells, neither of us do the whole 'restraint' thing very well," Lilly looked close to hyperventilating but nodded her understanding. Harry frowned as the two best friends trudged towards the ramp but were both stopped by Professor Flitwick, frowning the small man looked them over slowly before speaking.

"Ladies, could you please leave all weapons outside of your wands here?" The pair nodded and Flitwick conjured a table, after roughly two minutes passed a rather sizable arsenal of mundane explosives, knives, garrotes, guns, poison potions and what looked to be an RPG-7 was left before the charms professor. He gave the sheepish looking teens a tired look that screamed 'I'm too old for this' before shooing them towards the stage, Harry watched the two nervously and as the fight began he could tell they weren't putting their all into it. He'd been training with Hermione since he was a second year and she was usually a blur of fluid grace and it looked like the pair of them were basically just taking turns deflecting spells. Harry muttered as much and to his surprise professor Flitwick responded,

"I've seen it before, they are both incredibly competent and having the bearing of very dangerous fighters, they also care greatly for each other so they're doing their very best to put on a show but their hearts aren't in it, a pity they got drawn against each other chances are good they would have been magnificent if unhindered." Harry nodded slowly and eventually Hermione fell to a stunner, Lillith enervated her best friend and looked very irritated as she helped the other young woman up and pulled her into a tight hug. Throwing an arm over each others shoulders the pair walked down the ramp and just like before Malfoy spoke up,

"Nice going Mudblood, why-" the blonde boy sputtered as with one smooth movement Lillith had summoned her pistol from the table and stuck the massive piece of stainless steel in his mouth, she cocked the hammer back and Harry saw true murderous intent in those oh so familiar green eyes. Oddly enough he took this time to take in her weapon of choice, it looked to be a long slide 1911 or at least used the frame of one, the large slide had 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' engraved in cursive along its length; he Immediately recognized it as one of Aunt Bella's side projects. Hermione gently raised her hand and placed it on Lillith's trembling arm while calmly whispering,

"Lilly dear, you cannot commit murder in front of the entire school, as amusing as it would be, come now put the pistol down," growling as her finger began tightening on the trigger she eventually sighed and pulled the gun from Draco's mouth, she took a step forward to stand directly in front of the still startled blonde while spitting out,

"Pray to the Goddess you do not have to face me boy, you're an embarrassment and an insult to what you could have been, just had to follow in your rapist murderer fathers footsteps didn't you? Get out of my face, now," Draco did just that and as the ponce ran back to his bench tail between his legs as Harry came to a very uncomfortable conclusion; his sisters violent outbursts turned him on, a lot. With that disturbing self revelation Harry didn't pay much attention to the rest of the duels until he was called up; he'd had to surrender his weapons much like his sister when he was called to face Susan Bones, Flitwick just rolled his eyes while muttering 'Potters'.

Susan as it turned out was a good duelist which wasn't a surprise and she fought unconventionally enough where Harry actually managed to have some fun, she was as fond of combat transfigurations as he was but in the end he distracted her by conjuring a swarm of birds and having them explode around her. As she threw a protego up to fend off the shards of bone and spray of blood he hit her with a stunner. After she was woken up she gave him a rueful grin and promised him she was going to steal that move for later, he figured that was acceptable if she was going into law enforcement like her aunt. He was snapped out of his reverie when he realized Lillith was staring at him practically nose to nose grinning manically,

"You just got called up for the last fifth year duel, you got Malfoy, I'm so jealous," gulping at his sisters proximity he licked his dry lips and nodded quickly, as Lillith stood to let him by he ran his hands through his hair wondering when the hell things had gotten so complicated and...squicky... Taking position in the ring the sneering Slytherin and glowering Gryffindor gave each other half hearted salutes and the moment Flitwick yelled 'Begin!' Harry cut loose, later on he would reflect it was rather cruel of him to dump all his frustrations on Malfoy like that, funny, but cruel.

Malfoy began with a pair of piercing hexes along with a tripping jinx, Harry responded with a bombarda, a pair of reductors, an over charged cutter, he finished off his opening combo with a specialized piercing curse Hermione had rather appropriately nicknamed 'The Gatling Gun'; suffice it to say within ten seconds Malfoys end of the ring looked like the surface of the moon. There was a roar of approval from the Gryffindors (and the Hufflepuffs, they remembered what the bastard had done to Hannah) as Draco went flying, he really had no idea if the Slytherin was out of the fight or not due to the dust but considering Harry was still frustrated and hadn't even begun to tap into his power yet he pushed the offensive. Casting a chain of explosion and fire curses Harry smiled grimly as Draco's bloody body came flying out of the dust and smoke landing in a bloody heap snapped wand laying at his twitching feet; the dark satisfaction roiling in Harry's belly began to uncoil as he remembered everything this little shit had ever said and done to his family and friends.

Almost as if guided by an outside force 'Crucio' was halfway past his lips when there was a massive gong noise and he heard Aunt Bella declare him the winner as Madam Pomfrey rushed the stage to check on Malfoy, coming back to his senses Harry felt genuinely sick when he realized what he'd done to the blonde ponce. The broken form looked so small and weak in this state, just a spoiled brat who had an an over inflated opinion of himself, Harry had no right to drop the hammer on him like that, as he walked away to the cheering and jeering he was tackled to the ground by a black blur. Musical laughter filled his ears as he straightened out his glasses to see the weight straddling his waist was his grinning and cackling sister, his mouth went dry as he realized...things were starting to react directly where she was sitting and it was nothing short of an act of will that kept him from freaking out.

"That was great!" Lillith crowed happily, she glanced up seeing Draco's bloodied form binge carried out of the ring, she snickered a bit in morbid amusement as she stood and helped Harry back up to his feet, "I mean it was excessive and moms scowling at you a bit but you didn't use anything really dark at all so they can't complain, good thing those wardstones Flitwick set up dampen our spells though I sincerely doubt you want a manslaughter charge on your record." She paused tapping her chin a moment before shrugging and dragging him to their couch, neither really cared about the rest of the duels, Lillith because she was irritated she'd made Hermione look bad and Harry because he didn't know what the hell to do about his feelings, no wonder Sirius swore off relationships emotions complicate _everything_.

Much like earlier Harry didn't pay attention to the duels, after the six and seventh years finished he cleared the semi-finals with ease, distracted by his thoughts or not he had the power and training to win regardless, he supposed Iris would accuse him of being arrogant but alas he _was_ James Potters son it came with the territory. As he tried to come to terms with what he was feeling for his sister...his twin (!) he was drawn out of his thoughts by the announcement of the final duel, apparantely it was Lillith and himself; of course, nothing can be simple. Sighing he stood and entered the ring while Lillith's head craned back and stared at the darkening skies, the wind was beginning to kick up and it sent the few locks of her hair that had fallen out of the messy bun fluttering.

Straightening her posture his twin threw him a devilish grin that caused a reaction Harry hadn't expected, he grinned right back with equal amusement and suddenly all his angst, worries, and self doubts melted away. Only one thought seemed to beat through his mind as they saluted each other as Flitwick declared the duel to begin,

'This outta be fun,'

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**This chapter languished for a week, good god you have no idea how much I hate this little bit of the story. Not because of what it entailed no, because I rewrote the fucking thing _twice_ due to a power outage and a six year old nephew, ugh...anyway I know its shit just read and review I hope I don't lose too many readers with this one.**


	9. To the Victor Goes the Spoils

**So I hate writing action scenes and that's what has held this story up, so you know what? I'm just getting it out of the way, now that it's bloody finished I can focus on Harry and Lillith's relationship and the tournament, ugh. Anyway yeah short and I need to edit it again but christ I'm just glad it's done and over with, next chapter will be better I promise, anyway please read and review, I'm out.**

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The Potter twins stared each other down for several moments as the darkening clouds continued to gather in the skies above; honestly Harry felt it was melodrama at it's best but considering the fact no one asked him for his opinion he kept the thought to himself. Twirling his holly and phoenix feather wand in his right hand he threw a cocky half grin at his sister as Aunt Bellatrix bellowed,

"Begin!" Lillith didn't hesitate, unlike her match against Hermione she for some reason felt no need to hold back and sent a chain of stunners and banishers towards her brother while he returned the favor. It was odd though, no matter how over powered the spells were the twins deflected the near hits as if they were nothing while the ongoing assault only egged them on to cast more elaborate counters.

"Come on Lils is that all you've got!?" Harry laughed out as he transfigured a bit of debris into a pack of wolves sending them towards his sister, his fellow ravenette smirked in reply as she fired a bombarda into their midst sending chunks of bloody meat flying.

"Hardly Har-Bear, do try to keep up with the class," grinning viciously Harry fired a pair of lightening curses towards his sister but she deflected them into the dome protecting the crowd as she conjured a series of metallic knights sending them forth with a gesture. Firing several curses at the imposing figures Harry growled in frustration as they deflected the powerful spells on their mirrored shields,

"Oh you cheating bitch!" Harry yelped as he dove around their glinting blades twisting away from their strikes, firing a banisher he nodded in satisfaction as the construct collapsed under the blow, this he could work with. Still grinning Lillith began twirling her wand as she constructed something significantly more complex then her last endeavor; finally banishing the last knight Harry turned around just in time to face the screaming maw of what appeared to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"All is fair in love and war dear brother," she drawled out as Harry dove out of the massive constructs path barely avoiding its attempt to bite him in half; rolling to his feet he muttered several incantations and grinned as his own creations took form. The small pack of Velociraptors charged the confused monster and began crawling up its sides and as one they exploded taking the king of the dinosaurs out with them. Whatever response he was anticipating from his twin, laughter was not it,

"Oh...oh god Harry, really? HA! I'm never standing next to one of your conjurations again that's for sure!" Throwing her a half grin he fired several over charged explosion curses towards his twin who responded with a brief incantation that turned the ground beneath him into dozens of flailing clawed arms. Yelping as his jacket was snagged by several of the offending limbs he managed to shed the article of clothing in time to avoid a series of piercing hexs; aiming his wand just behind his sister he played a hunch that this particular phobia had _not_ been part of her cloak of lies.

Lilly was about to snark about his poor aim when something purple, slimy, and _long_ wrapped around her ankle, turning around quickly her eyes widened in horror at what was facing her, "TENTACLES!?" Her horrified screech reverberated across the pitch as she began panicking, dozens of the slimy appendages soon began grabbing at her, muttering a quick phrase her elbow pads disconnected and she managed to slide out of her jacket as it was torn apart by the monstrosity before her. Harry began laughing as he crossed his arms in amusement,

"Don't think I forgot about you finding Tonks porn stash, I know how much those freaked you out," glaring at her twin Lillith cast a severing hex at her ankles freeing herself in a moment. Harry's eyes widened at the deepening scowl staring him down as his sister began prowling towards him, not even looking at where she was aiming she fired a spray of violet flames on the half formed tentacle monster and only released the curse when she stood a meter from her now concerned brother.

"You know what, fuck it, knife," Harry's eyes widened as he mouthed the word "Knife?" in confusion, then he was dodging out of the way of said conjured pointy implement. Conjuring his own blade they both took fighting stances and began circling each other, slashing back and forth they tuned out the roars of the crowds when suddenly a crack of thunder rolled across the sky. Both teens looked up just in time to watch the deluge of cold rain fall from the heavens soaking them through immediately, coming to the conclusion that holding a piece of metal in an open field in a thunderstorm was a bad idea they both ditched their blades.

"Getting tired sister?" Lillith growled in return as she fired a flame charm above her turning the falling rain into a billow of steam effectively cloaking her movements, Harry was in the midst of conjuring a gust of wind when his twin flew out of the center of the cloud. What happened next was completely reflexive he'd later admit, but regardless the results were impossible to ignore.

As Lillith Potter sprinted towards her target grinning widely she was caught completely off guard as a yellow charm cut across her, hearing the last echoes of Harry's "Expelliarmus!" she skidded to a stop as her wand flew towards her brother. Staring in mute shock as he lifted her ebony wand aloft the crowd went wild as he was announced victorious, unable to comprehend this turn of events all she could do was mutter,

"He...beat me?" As her Aunt Bella escorted her off stage all she could manage to do was shake her head in confusion, once down on the ground she met the gaze of her smirking best friend and rather dumbly repeated herself, "He...beat me..." Hermione smirked knowingly as she wrapped an arm around Lillith's waist.

"Yes dear and well done, come come lets get out of the rain and showered all right?" Nodding once she threw a look over her shoulder just in time to catch her brothers grinning visage staring at her as lightening lit the sky.

After being congratulated by his family and an incredibly excited Gryffindor House Harry finally managed to get away from the chaos long enough to recuperate from the days duels. He would be the first to admit it, he'd actually had to put effort into winning against his sister, she was...chaotic, powerful, and playful, perhaps too playful really. Honestly if she hadn't been playing so many games of distraction and switching styles mid combat she would probably have had him a couple of times there.

Reflecting on that as he entered the Prefects bath he shucked his filthy BDU's and kicked several of the taps to fill the tub, stretching he fell back first into the water and sighed in satisfaction as the massaging heat soaked into his muscles. He really had no idea how long he lounged in the magically heated water but he really didn't care either, eventually he threw his arms over the edges of the massive tub and let his head fall back onto the rim as he stared at the ceiling. When he heard the door open he really had to resist the urge to grimace, he just wanted some peace and quiet, time to not even think, just relax, silently praying that whoever entered would go away he decided to simply pretend he hadn't heard their entry.

His hopes were dashed when he heard the new occupant slip into the water, suppressing a groan he eventually felt the presence of his bath partner before him, sighing he looked up and froze in shock. Standing before him bereft of all clothing was his twin sister, her soaked hair the only thing covering her pert breasts, eyes widening he managed to sputter out,

"Li-Lillith, what are you...How did you even get in here?!" As he stared at his twins face he noticed a handful of things he'd previously discounted, her eyes were heavily lidded, her cheeks were flushed red, and she was breathing rapidly. Gulping nervously he pushed himself fully to the wall of the tub as Lillith sauntered towards him, she reached for his face and gripped his chin between her thumb and forefinger lifting his head to meet her eyes.

"You...you beat me..." and without any other warning she pressed her lips to his and all Harry could do in return was wrap his arms around her neck. When he pressed his tongue to her lips she offered no resistance as she opened the way for him, tongues lashing together Harry was vaguely aware of her mirroring his earlier movement and wrapping her arms around him as her legs pulled themselves around his waist. Harry Potter's last rational thought for the night was a delighted, "Eh...fuck it."

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**Annnnd now things are about to get very very awkward, mwhahahaha!**


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